Power Within
by belle-fille1
Summary: This is a kickass Tea fanfic with fantasy/sci-fi in it. It doesn't focus on the card game at all but has enough 'magic' in it to keep most people hooked. Please read anyhow! ^^
1. The Beginning

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-gi-oh! 

This is my first fanfic ever, kinda nervous...but here it goes. Please R&R but no flames!

No Anzu bashing!

It was a hot Summer day. Everyone was at the game shop trying to cool down.

"Hey Tea, are you all right?" asked Yugi concernedly. "You've recently seemed out of it."

"What? Oh...yeah, I haven't been getting enough sleep," said Tea with a wan smile. Ever since her parents had died a few months ago, she had been getting these strange dreams. Of course, she had told herself, I won't tell the others (Yugi, Yami, Mai, Joey, Tristan, Ryou, Bakura, Malik, Marik), I don't want them worrying even more.

"Really, I'm fine," she said.

The others exchanged looks.

"Still sorry over your parents deaths?" sneered Marik, speaking up unexpectedly. 

"Marik shut up!" everyone exclaimed.

"What," Marik demanded, she's gettin' on my nerves wearin' that glazed look on her face whenever you ask her if she's alright."

Secretly Marik liked Tea but hid it by acting as if she was just another annoying mortal. As the others started arguing with him, Tea thought to herself, I hate it when they talk as if I'm not here. I can fight my own battles. Suddenly everything seemed too much for her, Her inner rage at her parent's deah, the way everyone treated her as if she was stained glass, Marik's cold contempt toward her...it was as if she had asorbed every little thing starting from her parent's death until now, and was about to explode.

"Marik!" she yelled.

Abruptly the din stopped as everyone stared at Tea in surprise. Normally Tea would have been mortified, but she was fed up with Marik's attitude. 

"Why don't you shut up for once and give your opinion when someone actually needs it?" she yelled with a red face.

Everyone: 0__o

Marik smiled. "Well, well, well...happy cheerleader actually has a backbone. But don't think you'll ever beat me in an argument. You should pick on someone your own age," he said, widening his smile. Everyone stared apprehensively at Tea and Marik.

"uhh...Tea you sure you're alright?" asked Joey hesitantly.

"Yes I am, and I'm tired of you guys acting as if I'm a depressed little girl who can't take care of herself, who might commit suicide!.......oh my gosh I...I didn't mean it that way," said Tea. "I....I gotta go." With that, she grabbed her purse and started to run out the door.

"Wait! Tea!" everyone shouted (except Bakura and Marik).

"Running away Tea?" yelled Marik mockingly.

Tea skidded to a stop. All of a sudden WHAM! Her purse flew in the air and smacked him full in the nose.

"What the f@%*!" he yelled.

"What's the matter Marik, can't take your own medicine? Tea said with a smirk. The group stared at Tea's sudden change in attitude. I...why did I just do that? Tea thought to herself. It must be my pent up emotions or something..

"Im sorry," she said apologetically to a groaning Marik. "I don't know what came over me...besides I don't think it should hurt that bad."

"Bitch!" Marik said holding his hands over his bloody nose. "Well, why don't you leave you prissed up cheerleader. Leave your cheering for someone who actually needs it," he said through gritted teeth, throwing her words back at her. 

"Marik!" gasped Malik, "how could you?"

Tea stood frozen in shock. Suddenly she turned and ran out as tears started to stream down her face. Everyone glared at Marik who was now regretting his harsh words. 

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Tea ran sobbing toward her house. Slam! went her bedroom door as she collapsed on her bed, crying helplessly. I'm so weak, she said to herself. To let myself get hurt by a stupid jerk like him. Why should I care about what he says...But is he right?...does Yugi and Joey really need my help? she said softly. 

After crying herself out, she fell in to a fitful sleep and started to dream.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tea woke up (in the dream). Where am I, she thought. "Oh great, it's the stupid dream again," she exclaimed.

"What's the matter," said an amused voice. "Don't like the dream?" 


	2. Shalanelle

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-gi-oh!

I was wonderin' how long do people usually take writing a chapter? I think I go too fast...I finish it in 30min.to 1hr....I seriously need help..hehe

Oh yeah! I forgot, I accidentally misspelled Within to Witin, but I changed the title mistake!

Neways, please R&R! Remember no Anzu bashing! I'm writing the 2nd chapter the same day I wrote the first one, so if you did review I haven't received it yet.

Warning! A LOT of dialogue! Sorry!

"Who's there?" Tea said, looking side to side. "Show yourself!"

A woman appeared in thin air. She smiled at the stunned Tea. 

"Who..who are you?" she said wonderingly. The woman..or girl, was about her Tea's age except that she looked as if she was a goddess of beauty. But her eyes was what captivated Tea, it seemed to know everything and it gleamed with an inner light.

"My name is Shalanelle and I'm here to help you," the woman said. 

"There..there's nothing wrong with me," stammered Tea.

The woman smiled again.

"No?" Shalanelle queried. "Then why do you suddenly seem to be able to do things alot easier, like as in when you hit Joey for trying to steal your hotdog a few days ago, he was in pain for hours. Or when you threw your purse at Marik."

"How did you know that!" gasped Tea.

"I know everything, I'm..well...you can think of me as an ancient spirit that likes to keep in touch with the mortal humans."

Tea was silent for a moment.....then, she asked softly, "Are you suggesting that I have a Yami like Ryou and Malik?

"Dear me, no! You're something different," Shalanelle said slowly, with a thoughtful expression on her face. "You were born with a...well..you can call it a special ability except that I'm here to teach you how to control it.......

Tea: o__O

"I'm not explaining this well," Shalanelle said apologetically. She took a deep breathe, "ok, here it goes. In you family runs this ability to fight, an innate ability. Whoever has this gift is more stronger, faster, quieter (as in sneak attacks), etc.... It rarely comes up, but you have it. It seems that all this stress that had been building up inside of you has unleashed this ability. That's why Marik got a bloody nose when you only threw your purse at him, normally he would just get a bruise."

Tea: o___O

Shalanelle: x___x

"Tea!" she shouted, " do you understand me!"

"Gaaaaah! I'm just trying to see whether you're insane or I'm insane by believing you."

Shalanelle gave an exasperated sigh. "I'm definitely sane and so are you. Just--"

"Suppose you're right, then how can I control this ability," Tea said, cutting in.

"Control it....you already....it's an ability, it doesn't force you to do things, you just need to be careful when you lose your temper and your fists start flying." S replied (Shalanelle will now be referred as S, her name is too long..hehe)

"It's whether you'll use it for good or for evil," S continued. "Don't you understand? With this capability you can do great things. However most of the people who got this gift became corrupted by power and greed, thus I personally will train and mentor you so you won't make their mistake."

S reached inside her robe and took out a small silver disk. "This will help you gain your full potential ability right away, rather than gradually. I have a feeling that you'll need your gift right away," she said mysteriously. 

Tea slowly backed away from her with a look of Get-away-you-freak on her face.

"Oh don't be silly! Here, touch it!," S said.

Tea backed up even more.

"Oh for heavens sake, I don't have time for this, you know. You should be happy that I'm actually going to help you. It doesn't happen often you know..well actually it doesn't happen at all! Oh...the other spirits will look down on me now if they knew I was consorting with mere humans!" she said wailingly.

"Ummm...I gotta go," muttered Tea. She started to slap herself in an effort to wake herself up.

"Hey! You can't go until you touch it!" S exclaimed. Suddenly she lunged for Tea and slapped the disk on Tea's arm.

"What the -----," Tea yelled.

Suddenly sparks of light exploded in front of her eyes. A glorious feeling rushed within her, it was as if all the knowledge of fighting was pouring into her mind. She felt as if she was reborn. Abruptly the feeling stopped and Tea staggered as the feeling disappeared.

She looked at S and said softly, "You were right...I..I now know how to f-fight!"

S smirked, "Well, first of all you're gonna have to get rid of that scared attitude. Toughen up because I'm gonna train you until you wish you're dead!"

"Now--now wait up! This is a dream, you can't train me!" Tea said, backing up with her hands in front of her.

"Well actually I can, I **am** a goddess after all."

Tea: o__O "I thought you said you were an ancient spirit."

S: sweatdrop... "Same thing, same thing!"

"Anyways, as I was saying, I have powers and as of right now you aren't dreaming, you livin' the real thing, sweetie!"

Tea: sweatdrop "uh...hehe....but--but what about the time? I--I gotta go to school and my friends...."

"Oh don't worry, right now time is at a standstill, or rather, time is going at a very slow rate."

Thus Tea, sobbing and helpless in the beginning (read ch.1 for explanation) was forced into a training like she had never done before. 

********************************************************************

Sorry for the long dialogue, couldn't help myself. But I made it extra long (whether that's a good thing or a bad thing) I'll try to make things go faster in the next chapter, hopefully. Ending reminds me of Goku w/Kami Senin.

Wheee! I'm so happy that I'm writing a story! Hehe, do a little victory dance. .... .... ok, ok, I'll stop writing.


	3. Training

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-gi-oh!

Thanx for reviewing me Princess of darkness and me (luv the name) ! Yay, my first review ever! By the way I luv your Atlantasean (I think I spelled it wrong) story! And if anyone else did review, I didn't get it yet, so sorry if I didn't put your name down.

Anywayz, I'm not sure if I want to put Tea with Marik or Bakura ( I have a thing for bad ass guys...hehe, I don't know why I said that..gulp..) If you have any suggestions for which guy, feel free to tell me!

Hopefully this chapter won't be that boring as ch.2, I'm trying to put some humor into this one....like Goku w/Kame Senin. Don't forget to Reviewww! oh yeah, no tea bashing.

"Tea, Tea, how many times do I have to tell you to stop questioning my judgement?" said S (shalanelle) exasperatedly. "You'll be perfectly fine."

Tea was strapped to a belt (kinda like what those rock climbers wear), suspended on a rope that reached to the top of the cliff. She was clutching the rope about 25 feet high from the ground. "uh...are you sure that I won't get hurt if I do fall," said Tea nervously. 

"Of course, of course!" said S trying to maintain a serious tone. "This is just some...oh, incentive for you to train even harder. Just remember you have to get to the top of the cliff.....Ready to climb?" (cliff is about 200 ft. high) "You do know that this extra 25 ft. jump is just so that I can light the rope."

"WHAT!" screamed Tea.

"Really now, you would take forever, resting, and whining, so this'll force you to go faster." S dipped the end of the rope in kerosene and oil and then lit the end with a match. "Up you go!" S said cheerfully.

"AAAAgh!" Tea yelled as she scampered upward, flames licking toward her.

Thus the torture went on and on, with each impossible tasks coming after another.

Tea: whining----crying----screaming----sulking

What had seemed like forever came to an end when Tea had just completed running across a mile of hot coals.

"Tea," said S smiling, "guess what...I think your training is complete!"

Tea: shocked---elated-----dancing around singing hallelujah

S: o___O

"Hmmm, you must be happy to see your friends again, especially those lovely purple eyes again," said S teasingly.

"What! W-What are you talking about?" 

"Oh ho! Or is it the sexy Bakura you're thinking about," said S to a red faced Tea.

"I-I don't like any of them!" Like Bakura or Marik! thought Tea. What is she thinking? Although they both have very nice bodies...aagh, what am **I **thinking!

"When are you going to actually teach me how to fight," said Tea quickly changing the subject. 

"Oh, I thought I told you, you already know how to fight," said S with a surprised look on her face.

Tea: x___x (anime style fall)

"You...you! Aagh I'm gonna kill you! You made me go through that stupid training for nothing! I don't care about getting controlling my ability, I though you were gonna teach me how to fight!" yelled Tea, diving for S's neck.

S frantically floated above the frothing Tea.

Tea jumps up and grabs S's neck. "hehe," said Tea, "guess this training is good for one thing.....Killing you!" Tea plunges downward as she tries to strangle S.

"K! K! I give! I'm sorry that I forgot," squeaks S as she tries to get out of Tea's grip. "Jeez! I didn't think you'd be that strong to jump up that high! Man, maybe I shouldn't have trained you that hard! Hey! Not that tight, if you try to kill me, how will you get back to your friends?"

Tea slowly releases S.

S: backs away slowly (doing the same thing that Tea was doing when she first met S)

"Anyways, I did teach you control of your emotions right?" said S tentatively.

"Yeah, by making me swim with the crocodiles whenever I didn't!" snorted Tea.

"See! See! That's something! said S. "But," S said, suddenly changing her expression into a serious look, " you will need this training and control...and **very** soon."

"I can't tell you anything more, but trust your heart and judgement," continued S.

Tea was silent. She was shocked by the look of worry in her mentor's eyes. "Everything will be okay," Tea said, hugging S in an effort to reassure her.

S gently disengaged from Tea's arms and said softly, "You'll be fine, but I think it's time for you to go back now." With that she waved her hand and Tea's eyes suddenly drooped.

"Wait-wait-w--zzzzzzzz," said Tea. The scenery around her dissolved into her bedroom and Tea gently plopped on her bed, the time only 4hrs. after her argument with Marik. 

************************************************************************

Back at the Game Shop, right after Tea had left.

"Do you think we should go after her?" asked a worried Yugi.

"No, let the girl get her emotions out," said Mai. "Believe me, she won't want to see any of you after what this creep said in front of us." "She'd be too embarrassed," she added, shooting a death glare at a now silent Marik.

Marik was in a silent turmoil. He knew he shouldn't have said that to Tea, after all, she was always there for Yugi and her friends. It was just that it hurt seeing her spark of life in her eyes go dull and glazed after her parents death. He was trapped within his own game. He had treated her cruelly but now he could not go after her begging for forgiveness, it would look suspicious. Look at me, he snorted to himself. The great ancient being now being brought to worry over one of those mortals. Oh how low I have fallen.

Next to him was Bakura, standing nonchalantly with his legs crossed. During the whole argument he had said nothing. He knew that Marik liked Tea because he himself wanted Tea and recognized his own symptoms in Marik. However he was in better standing with Tea because unlike Marik, he just didn't talk to Tea, rather than trying to instigate a fight with her like Marik. 

But do I want her because Marik wants her and I just don't like Marik or is it something else........wait, what am I thinking! thought Bakura. Of course it's because of competition, he thought to himself angrily.

**********************************************************************

Later that day.

As the gang left the Game Shop to go home, Marik suddenly found his footsteps going towards Tea's house. Oh well, since I have nothing better to do, thought Marik, I'll just...just go check up on her. That baka might have hurt herself....uh....running that fast, he said to himself in an effort to reassure himself that he wasn't going there to apologize.

As he rang the doorbell he racked his brain, thinking of an excuse for being there.

I have to go the bathroom real bad....no, that's a stupid excuse....uh...your purse! That's it!

But no one answered the door. Hmmm...she's not there? wondered a now worried Marik. Oh shit, what have I done, he thought. God she's probably crying her eyes out and it's already dark. Damn me and my big mouth.

Racing down the sidewalk, Marik ran toward the payphone. Yugi! he yelled into the phone. Tea's not at her house. "What do you mean," cried Yugi. " She should be there, it's already 10:00 at night!" 

"I mean she's missing you baka!" snarled Marik. "Get the others and look for her!"

Yugi quickly gave the alarm and the others arrived at his house with Marik standing on the doorstep waiting for them.

"Since when do you care what happened to Tea," said the normally silent Bakura.

Marik thought fast. " Because if something did happen to her, all you annoying people would annoy the hell outta me, whining about what happened to her," he said with a sneer on his face.

"Why you," Joey said, jumping toward Marik. Everyone grabbed onto Joey's arms and restrained him.

"Just go ahead and try mortal," taunted Marik. "I'll control you again and this time it'll be for good."

"As much as I'd love to smash your face in," said an angry Yami, "we've gotta look for Tea now."

Everyone quickly grabbed their flashlights as they ran out, calling out Tea's name. 

************************************************************************

2 hrs. later.

"This is hopeless!" groaned a frustrated Yugi. "Let's just notify the police."

"Wait guys!" yelled an excited Ryou. He had gone back to circle Tea's house once more and spotted Tea on her bed, fast asleep. "She's in her house sleepin'!"

The group rushed over and saw Tea on her bed. 

Ryou rang the doorbell several times.

"Wha-," Tea said in her sleep. "Gaah!, I'm back! But who's there at this time...........burglars!"

She crept around the back and took down the closest person from her. "Take that! and that! and that!" she cried, beating the person senseless.

The group whirled around as they watched in disbelief as Tea knocked Marik down and beat him unconscious. "Tea," they cried. "What are you doing!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sorry this is the end. I'm too sleepy to continue. Hehe......hope you liked it. Nighty-night. R&R!


	4. Get Ready to Rumble

Thanks for reviewing Kaz and Princess! By the way how did you first see my story? I can never find it whenever I go on fanfic and I'm not even logged in yet.......grrr....

Anywayz to Kaz, more power to you. Most people I know think I'm very childish because I love to day dream and I will walk around talking to myself, pretending that I'm one of my fav characters. They'll say, now how old are you? ummm...16.... And what grade are you going to be in? umm....12th..... well kaz I just say great job to you. you're still writing stories, not letting any sort 'age limit' to these sorts of things get to you and you're a great example to others like me. muah! 

I know I'm rattlin' on and on but I just want to say one more thing.....err two more things. One, do we really have to write disclaimers? Because it is fanfiction we're talking about here.....(actually I'm just really lazy). And two, whoever is just taking a passing glimpse at my story.............REVIEW!REVIEW!REVIEW!REVIEW!REVIEW!etc.............

As usual, no bashing of my fav gal Tea (you know you're just jealous..hehe). Hope you like this chapter. Oh by the way, should I make the tone more serious or humorous or both?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* Tea has just knocked Marik senseless, thinking he was a robber.\

Tea froze like a deer in headlights. "uh.......hey guys! I was just......just...uh..brushing an ant off of him," said Tea with a nervous grin. "I mean a spider.....you know how guys hate spiders. I got a little overboard I guess...... he..hehe..........ha?"

Everybody: O___O

Yugi was the first to break the silence. "Tea where were you," he said, totally disregarding the fact that Marik was slumped senseless on the grass in front of him.

"Where I was......uh...well....I was kinda feeling bad and I took a walk.....I know it was stupid at this time but...uh...I was just feeling overwhelmed," Tea said, blatantly lying. Inside she winced as she listened to herself add on more lies. Great, next they'll really believe I'm suicidal, she thought.

Bakura watched Tea's face grow red. 'What is she hiding? Something is different about her.....but I don't know what.'

"Well, as much as we're glad you're back, you shouldn't be doing something this dangerous at night," admonished Ryou. "You could've gotten seriously hurt. But you must be tired, how about we talk about this in the morning," he suggested.

"Right! Right!" agreed Tea quickly. "But listen, you guys, I'm really sorry for letting you worry about me. You're all such great friends, I'm lucky to have you around." 

"Aw, that's all right. As long you give me your lunch every once and awhile-------ouch! that hurt Mai!" yelled Joey, rubbing his ribs.

"But really Tea," Malik cut in, "try not to let Marik get to you. Just try to understand, he's very lonely and isn't used to having friends helping him. He thinks its weak."

The gang finally left Tea after an hour of 'making sure she was alright,' tugging the unconscious Marik behind them. 

****************************************************************

Tea slowly went back inside her house. She had mixed feelings about Marik. As soon as she had realized that it wasn't burglars and it was Marik who she had just knocked out, she had felt glad yet mad at him for being there. Hmph, she thought. Be more understanding....yeah right. But, she said to herself, they did tell me that it was Marik who first started looking for me. Maybe....maybe he really does care for me.......no! What am I....aagh, my mind is betraying me! Bad Tea, bad Tea!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Next morning.

BEEP! went the alarm.

"Arrgh.....," mumbled Tea as she shuffled toward the closet to change. She opened the closet door and a big package smacked her in the face. On it was a note.

_Dear Tea,_

You have exceeded my high expectations of you. Inside this package is an outfit and some weapons that I think you will need. Just remember to be careful. They might use your friends to lure you once they find out that you have the gift and know how to use it.

Always,

Shalanelle

'This is the third time she's warned me. What is she talking about? thought Tea. No matter, I must be on my guard.'

Inside the box was a sword (Star Wars style except without the sound effects and glow), a tight leather outfit (that once Tea put it on, showed all her curves, thus she didn't wear it ), matching gloves, and boots to the clothes, and an assortment of knives, triangular throwing blades, and a ring that glowed when she put it on. 

"Hmmm...guess I'll have to wear the outfit if I want to bring all of this stuff with me," said Tea. (The outfit was specially designed to carry the weapons). Over her outfit she put on her school uniform. "uggh, I look like I shopped in the maternity ward section," she said disgustedly.

************************

At school.

Bakura was walking with Ryou. 'Will he ever shut up?! he thought angrily to himself, totally ignoring the chattering Ryou. 'I still don't understand how she could knock Marik out. As much as I hate to admit it, Marik is strong. At the most Tea could just give him a couple of bruises before he would restrain her.'

Suddenly they saw Tea walking behind them. "Tea?" said Ryou incredulously. Tea was wearing her mini uniform except that underneath that were pants along with matching boots and gloves. "Oh, hi guys!" said Tea cheerfully. "Just a new style I wanted to try." 

Bakura and Ryou: o___O

Ignoring the looks from her friends, Tea marched resolutely past the pair. 'Now,' she thought, 'I just have to find the rest and protect them from any harm.'

But after 3 periods, Tea slowly relaxed her guard. 'I guess nothing will happen, at least today,' she thought. The bell rang and everyone rushed outside for lunch. 

"So Tea, what's up with the new look?" said Mai amusingly.

Tea opened her mouth to reply. Suddenly VROOOOM!!!!! Seven motorcycles crashed into the gate. Screams erupted from the students as everyone tried to run. The leather clad people on the motorcycles suddenly veered toward Tea and her friends. The vehicles came closer and closer, speeding up with each second. Until the very last second, they all screeched to a halt. 

"What the---," coughed Tristan as everyone waved the dust from their face. 

The lead person lifted off his black helmet. "Well if he hadn't just trespassed on school property and almost killed us, I would definitely want to know him," said an awe struck Mai. The person had golden skin with yellow eyes and tawny hair. His muscles were very visibly seen through his opened jacket. Straddled on his black motorcycle with an condescending air with six others behind him, he made a very intimidating impression. With a cool expression on his face, he said, " Which one of you is Tea?" 

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I left it with a cliff hanger! Hope you liked it, and don't forget to answer my questions! Pwease!

Thank you for reading and come back again! hehe...just playin' around. 

I'm tryin' to make the story better as each chapter is put in, I keep on making each chapter longer than the one before it...oh well. 

Gotta go, it's 12:31 AM and my mom wants me off the computer. (Usually I save it on disk and in the mornin' put it in the internet.)


	5. You Wanna Piece of Me?

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-gi-oh!

Thanx for the reviews! Yes! Got a new reader, now there's 3 diff. people readin' it!

By the way...does anyone know what lol means? hehe...i don't know what it means....i'm so embarrassed.

Anyway since I left the last chapter with a hanger I'll go straight to the next one.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

No one answered him. Inside, everyone was thinking, 'why does he want Tea of all people?'

"Won't tell me?," said the man. "Well then things will just have to get ugly won't it."

"I'm Tea and what do you want," Tea said, stepping forward. Joey and Tristan tried to move in front of her. "What are you doing Tea, you're gonna get hurt. We guys'll try to hold'em off. You and Mai get back and get the police," Joey muttered softly from the side of his mouth.

"No Joey, this is **my** fight. You guys back out of this. I will protect you guys," Tea said, moving in front of the two boys.

"Well Tea, if you come with us no one will get hurt," smirked the man. 

"No," Tea stated coldly, " if your group leaves, then I won't hurt you."

The bikers laughed at her words. "You hurt us?" said one of the bikers. "oho, I'm so scared! Girl, if you had your full ability then it would be different, but it has been only the second day that you've had it...you don't have control over it."

"No?" said Tea, smiling a little. Before anyone could move Tea leaped into the air and before the biker knew it, he was on the ground, choking on the ground. 

Tea's friends: **O**___**O**

The lead biker watched her with narrowed eyes. "So," he said, " it seems you know how to use it.....but you won't last long against six of us." With that all of the figures got off their bikes and formed a circle around her friends. 

Tea crouched and said sharply to the Bakura, Marik, and Yami, " You guys protect Joey, Tristan, Yugi, Ryou, and Mai. You should be able to hold them off." 

"Hey!" said Joey indignantly. "We can fight our own battles." "No you can't, the other guys are thousands of years older than you and know how to fight, plus they're stronger," replied Tea. The other three spirits, exchanged glances. 'What happened to Tea that she could easily knock that rider out of his motorcycle,' they all thought.

All of a sudden the six cyclers moved in. Quickly Tea slammed the closest in the head. With a quick flip she kicked the other in the groin, and then vaulted over the doubled over man and threw another in to the air. That man sailed and hit a tree with a crack. The other three stared in surprise. One of them said to the leader, " I thought he said that she didn't know how to use her gift." The leader smiled at Tea, "I guess you do know how to use it girl. You may be able to beat the others but not me."

"Bring it on then," said Tea as she launched another attack. She heard a vzzing sound coming from the left and jumped to upward just in time as a triangular throwing blade embedded into the tree behind her. "So, too chicken to do a man to man fight?" she said amusedly. "Guess I'll upgrade also." With that, she quickly jumped upward. As the man looked up, she tapped him from behind. "Boo!" she yelled. As the man whirled around she kicked him full in the face. He skidded on the ground and bit the dust. 

"Now ain't I nice?" Tea said. Inside she was seething that they dared try to attack her. The last two men standing gaped. Suddenly the leader disappeared. 'Wha-where did he go?' thought Tea. 

"Behind you," he said. She turned around and saw him holding Mai by the neck. On the ground slumped Bakura, Yami, and Marik. Joey, Tristan, Ryou, and Yugi were busy trying to hold off the last guy. 'Shit!' she thought. 'He's too fast....I couldn't even see where he was going!'

"Now then...play time's over. Come with us if you don't want her to get hurt."

Time seemed to slow down for Tea. It was as if she was in a heavy dream, everything seemed to move so slow. She saw Joey, Tristan, and Ryou leaping toward the leader as they last biker was dumped unceremoniously to the ground. She could hear S tell her to control her emotions, stay calm, and center everything on the last move, from her training session.

She focused on his arm that was wrapped around Mai's throat and before he could blink she had whipped her own throwing blade. The blade cut across his arm and he drew back hissing in pain. In that split second she had him by the throat. Her leg poised for the final kick. He looked into her face and saw death written there. "C-curses," he said. And before Tea could make the final move, he disappeared in a flash.

She looked around her, leather clad men were sprawled all around her. Marik, Bakura, and Yami moaned, holding their heads. The rest were looking at her in awe.

"Tea....I don't know how you did that but you just saved my life," said Mai. 

"However," said a wincing Yami, sporting a major bruise on his head, " I do believe you owe us all an explanation.

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Hope you like it! It's kinda short....err...well it's short compared to the last one. I'll try to make the next one longer. Gotta go!


	6. You Failed?

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-gi-oh! 

Thanx for the reviews. I know the story is kinda going slow but it's full of action so I guess that's okay. By the way.......what does hentai mean?.....I sound so naive but every single time I search for an anime and one of the results says hentai, it shows porn. (blushes and turns red) Is it a Japanese word? I think you're getting the suggestion that I don't know much on the internet.....jeez I had no idea that lol meant that. hmmm...gotta try using that.

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In Canada.

"I-I'm sorry sir but she was too strong," said the leader of the gang that was sent to capture Tea, to a man sitting on a leather chair. Sweat formed on the leader's forehead and visibly trembled as he bowed, one knee on the ground.

The man on the chair slowly turned his head and looked at him. Gleaming red eyes bored into the quivering man kneeling in front of him. "Meaning you lost to her?" the man said quietly. "I believe you know the consequences of failure......you have 30 seconds to beg for your life."

"It-she...she knew how to use her whole gift! She--she must have been trained or something.....," the leader said with a cracked voice.

The man narrowed his eyes, "She knew how to use her whole gift?" 'Hmmm,' he thought to himself. 'It seems that someone else knows about her gift but who? Ah....of course.....Shalanelle.

"But that doesn't explain how you could still lose to her she has no experience. Her gift is not accountable to your failure. You have special powers of your own.....use it! You most likely used it to escape like a coward you are!" he sneered. "Get her, use any way you can, but get her.....and don't fail. Think of it as a way to redeem yourself in my eyes.....fail.........." he ended it ominously. 

The leader bobbed his head in thanks and left.

"So Shalanelle.....it begins. The battle has begun," he chuckled to himself.

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Tea's house.

"So that is basically what happened," explained Tea who had just recounted the events that happened to her. It had been a huge mess after the fight. The rest of the cyclers had been arrested while Tea was questioned by the police. It was only after repeated assurances that Tea was not involved in any way with the men did they [police] let her go.

"But," said Ryou worriedly, "what if they attack again? And this time with more guys like that blond wierdo?"

"That's why I've decided.....to leave town for awhile," said Tea.

Automatically everyone spoke up, speaking against her idea. "No," cut in Tea. "You don't understand. They easily kicked you guys' butts! They tried to hurt you guys so I would come with them. I'm just putting you guys in danger! Listen to me! If anything happened to you guys....it would be my fault," she ended in a whisper. 

"It won't happen again," Marik said. "I promise you." He, himself, could not believe that he was so easily beaten. But how, he wondered. That guy was not human....that speed was not real.

At the same time Bakura was replaying the fight in his mind. He could still see Tea looking contemptuously at the leader as he grabbed the struggling Mai. Everything that happened next was a blur. The next thing he knew was that Tea had her foot at the guy's neck. Tea....what will happen to you? You're such a mystery.....a beautiful mystery, he thought to himself. She looked so beautiful and fierce, the wind blowing her hair back while she fought. 

He gave sidewise glance at Marik who was lost in thought. He leaned close to Marik's ear and said softly so no one else would hear, "She's mine....do you hear?" To himself, 'I'm going to regret saying this.'

Marik smiled. "Yours?" he replied. "Can it be that the great Bakura is feeling the weak emotion of love?"

"Don't be a fool," Bakura hissed. "You want her too."

"Hmmm, I guess I do," stated Marik calmly. Bakura hesitated, unsure of this strange reaction from the normally violent Marik. All of a sudden Marik pulled his right arm back and slugged Bakura in the stomach. Chaos ensued as they both fought, rolling around the room, knocking things over. They were finally pulled apart by Yami, Ryou, Joey, and Tristan. "What are you doing," shouted Tea. None of them looked at her in the eye. 

Unfortunately for them, Yami had heard their tense conversation, being seated next to them. But he said nothing.

"I think....for today you guys should stay here, so in case something should happen, I would be here," continued Tea, ignoring the two red faced boys in front of her. "I'll go get some blankets and set things up," she said. "I'll help you," offered Yami. They both left the room and headed upstairs as the rest started arguing who would take the couch.

"Tea," said Yami. "You do know that if you go away....it would be easier for them to attack and use us against you." Tea was motionless. "I know," she said softly, "I'm just scared....I-," without warning she started to cry silent tears. She flung her arms around the surprised Yami. "I-I feel like my life is coming apart, if I lose my friends, I'll have no one left. I don't want to lose you guys too, like my parents," she said into his jacket. "uhh, that was embarrassing," she sniffled. 

"It's alright, but I offered to help you because I think you need to know something about Bakura and Marik."

"Sure," said a confused Tea, "wait, just let me blow my nose....if S were to see me crying, she'd be pissed for sure."

"Oh I see you alright," said a voice behind her. 

**Author Note**

Darn! I was going to leave it as a cliff hanger but I said I would try to make this one longer so I'm continuing. But I'm making this into two chapters. So, movin' onto the next chapter.


	7. Break Her, Make Her

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-gi-oh!

"Sha-Shalanelle," Tea said incredulously. 

"What, don't like beautiful women in your house?" S said. Yami was suddenly struck with the arrow of love (meaning he likes S). "But don't worry I didn't come here for a social call. I need to talk to you alone."

She pulled Tea into her bedroom and closed the door. "They're coming again," she said flatly. "And this time they're not holding back."

"What are you talking about," Tea said bewilderingly.

"The leader that you fought today is....not human. Think of him as the other side's right hand man. He isn't as good as you in fighting but definitely has more experience. You surprised him today, and he underestimated you. He's been sent to get you again and this time he'll use anything to make you come."

"I don't understand, why do they want me? And what is this about sides."

S gave a short sigh. "The **person **who is after you is an evil spirit (that sounds so corny). He wanted to use you for his benefit. However I got to you first, so now he's trying to take you down. He's afraid that you would try to kill him because you do have the capability to do that. Of course it doesn't help that he and I hate each other like crazy," she added. 

Tea said nothing. She raised her head and said coldly, "So you came here to warn me? Well no thanks, it's because of you I got in this position. My friends are in danger because I'm such a freak."

S stared at her in surprise. Anger flashed in her eyes. She raised her hand slapped Tea sharply in the face. "You fool. You don't understand do you?" she said to a white faced Tea. "He was the reason why all the others before you became corrupted. You don't understand what he did. The last person before killed thousands because of him. I guess I'll have to show you then."

With that, she raised her hands and a whirling ball appeared between them. "If you think I'm just trying to ruin your life then I dare you to touch it. You'll step back into the past see and what happened to the last person who had the gift."

Tea stared at her, then with a jerky movement she touched the ball. A white flash enveloped her. When the light faded away, Tea opened her eyes. 

She gasped as she saw a man with glowing red eyes in front of her. In front of him was a young woman about her own age in chains. 

"So, still won't listen," the man said softly. Tea shivered, his voice was filled with unspoken evil. "But don't worry you will soon enough."

The woman spat in front of him. "S will save me, you ass! You won't be able to force me to work for you!"

He smiled gently. "I really don't care if you work for me if not, however if you don't, you're too much of a danger to me to be alive. If this doesn't work then I'll just have to kill you."

Without moving from his chair, a ball of red fire appeared in front of him. It slowly grew larger and moved toward the cringing woman. "Are you sure about your answer?" he said as the ball was about to touch her. "Over my dead body!" she hissed as she tried to lean away from the floating fire. The ball touched her and she screamed as it started to cover her. The man smiled with pleasure at her screams of pain. "If you keep on resisting it will continue to hurt more and more and the pain will grow."

Tea watched with horror as the woman screamed and collapsed to the ground. "I will---not!" the woman said with clenched teeth. "No?" said the man. "Stubborn aren't you? But then most of the people trained by Shalanelle are usually that way." He raised a finger and the flames turned black. The woman suddenly stiffened and seemed to be choking. "No! I won't! I---NO!!!" she screamed. Suddenly the flames turned yellow. "It's done," said the man satisfied. The fire disappeared to show the woman unconscious. 

'What happened,' thought Tea in shock. The woman opened her eyes. Tea stared, her eyes once defiant was now lifeless. The woman stood up and said, "What is your wish master."

'She's in mind control,' thought an aghast Tea. 

"Your first job is to kill the surviving members of your friends," said the man with the same cruel smile on his lips, "slowly." 

The woman smiled, " Of course, right away."

Suddenly a mist appeared and Tea was in a room full of people. The door burst open and the woman strode in. "Takeena! I was so worried about you!" said a girl. The woman smiled, "Takeena is no more." "Wha-what do you mean.....what are you doing," cried the girl as Takeena lifted her up by the neck. 'Oh my god, I can't watch this! I can't!' thought Tea frantically. The mist enveloped her again and she was back in her bedroom. 

She stumbled in to S's arms as she started to cry. "It was horrible! She..she tortured her friends to death and some of them were just children!" she sobbed.

"Now do you understand? It was my fault that she got caught in his hands. I can't let that happen to you. They've been watching this family line, waiting for the next person to come up with the gift. That flame that was on Takeena was a mind breaker spell. Unless someone is strong enough to withstand that pain, their mind will succumb to the spell and will become evil. Takeena wasn't strong enough, no one is strong enough to withstand it."

Outside Yami and her friends were huddled at the door eavesdropping. "uggh, Tristan get off my foot you big ape," muttered Joey, shoving Tristan into Yugi. Yugi fell and banged his head on the door. "Yugi!" everyone hissed.

S smiled. "It seems like we have little eavesdroppers on the door," she said loudly. 

Abashedly, they opened the door. "It's alright," said S. "You guys might as well need to know the danger you're in."

"So uh...," said a blushing Tristan, "you're really a spirit?"

Yami elbowed him sharply in the ribs. "Of course she is!" he said glaring at Tristan for daring to admire Shalanelle.

Tea looked at her friends and said, "I guess we know what we're dealing with." 

"I would like to offer a suggestion though," said S. "Why don't I train all of you, after all Tea can't be everywhere."

They all exchanged looks. "Cool!" shouted Tristan. "We'll kick that man that you guys were talkin' about easy!"

S smiled, "Maybe not him. But at least you can defend yourselves from his goons. They at least, are human....except for the leader. But I need to get you out of here first. The leader is coming back soon."

Mai looked around as if expecting that guy to jump out of a wall.

"uhh..Shalanelle, I just want to know," said Yami. "How come...I mean I know you're probably older than I am but...how do you know that guy [red eyed guy] so well?

S smiled but her eyes were cold. "Because he's my husband."

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I hope you liked these 2 chapters! If you're confused about the red eyed guy and the leader, it should become clearer with each new chapter that I put in. Thanks for reading and don't forget to REVIEW!!


	8. Don't mess with Shalanelle

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-gi-oh!

Wow! I got a lot of reviews! thanx everybody!!! I have to say that I never thought writing a story would be this challenging! At first I was just writing what I thought would be a good story. But as the chapters went on, I realized that for the story to make sense, I had to re-read the previous chapters and make sure that I was headin' in the write (pun) direction. For all writers out there....I had no idea how tough it was! Now I'm trying to find out how I want the story to end and who gets Tea (most likely Marik), and all that. But enough talk, here's the chapter.

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Tea went cold. She knew that S wasn't evil, but to be married to that man! 

"Oh, don't worry," said S hastily, " we weren't close at all, it was in name only......it's a long story...I'll tell you later. But we must leave! Now!"

But before anyone could move, a loud crash was heard downstairs. 

"He's here!" yelped Mai. 

"Shit!" swore S. "Tea, I'll hold him off. You go ahead with the others. Here go through this portal. There's a nice empty mansion that I found that's still in this town. The owner won't be back for several days. Hurry!" A mirror like light emerged. 

S grabbed the now hysterical Mai by the collar. "You first." With that Mai was sailing through the portal. "Go!" shouted S. Everyone started running toward the portal. Tea, who was the last to leave, looked back at S. "You sure you'll be alright?"

"Of course," said S with a grin and wink. "Don't worry, you should be worried about the leader right now...hehe...he has no idea I'm here."

After watching the portal disappear, S turned to look down at the stairs. She bared her teeth as she watched the figure of the leader emerge through the dust and broken wood. 

"Having fun?" she said coolly.

"Woman, where is Tea?" he snarled. "I know she's here somewhere."

"My, my, aren't you in a bad mood," she said mockingly. She looked him up and down as if he was a side of beef. "Not bad for a bad guy," she said musingly.

The guy growled. He raised his hand, and black lightening appeared around him. "I'm warning you woman," he said quietly. "Answer my question!"

Shalanelle watched his angry face calmly. "I don't think your in the position to do anything,". Her eyes turned white and an eerie wind howled as she started to rise in the air. A thunder clap rocked the house as she continued to rise above the now shocked man. "Fool! You should have never chosen to come after Tea, for that mistake will cost your life," she said. Her hand was held out in front of her, suddenly darts of white lights shot out toward the man's chest. 

The leader leaped back just in time as the bolts hissed past him and hit the wall behind him, leaving burnt smoking holes. "Who are you," he demanded. 

"Me? Oh I'm just your worst nightmare," she replied smiling.

The man cocked his head to one side. "You know what," he said, "I think you underestimate me, woman." With that, he retaliated by throwing a bolt of green power toward her. Shalanelle watched the bolt arc toward her. 'Like that would hurt me, baka,' she thought to herself. 'Wait, that's not an ordinary throw...' She snapped her head back as the green throw sliced her cheek and then exploded behind her. 

Blood dripped down the side of her face. 'Hmmm, he's not that bad. But too bad he's not good as I am.'

"Nice one," she said coldly. "Now how about I end this?" With that she suddenly shot toward the man, feet extended. She hit his chest with full force and he was flung back into the wall, exploding it into splinters of flying wood. 

He landed on his back and flipped up, fear now evident in his eyes. "What are you," he said, trying to gasp for air.

She approached him slowly. "I am someone who is better than you and someone who knows your 'master' very well. Did you really think you could get Tea? You obviously don't know how your 'master' thinks. After you failed the first attempt, he was going to have you killed. But he knew that I helped Tea, thus he sent you here so I would kill you. He knows that I show no mercy to anyone on his side. He sent you to your death!"

The leader's eyes darted nervously around the now torn up room. As Shalanelle raised her arm back, white light dancing at the end of her fingertips, she looked at his face and saw his terror and hatred in his eyes. "But don't worry, I'm no one's lackey. And I don't like being tricked into doing someone else's dirty work. Be happy, I'm not going to kill you." Before he could move she touched his face with her hand. "When you wake up, tell your 'master' that I know his every moves. If he even comes close to them, I will personally serve his heart up on a platter," she instructed. With that the leader suddenly slumped to the ground, fast asleep. She snapped her fingers and he vanished to be relocated a few blocks away from his master's building (it's the building where the red eyed guy was at in Ch. 5). 

She surveyed the ruined house and sighed. 'Tea's gonna kill me when she sees this.'

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Meanwhile at the mansion.

"Whoa....this place is huge," said Tristan in awe. "I've never seen a place this big!"

Mai, now calm, looked around the room. "I've gotta say, this person has good tastes." A deep Venetian red rug was underneath the gang's feet and crystalline lights lit the hallway they were standing in.

"uhhh guys," said Ryou weakly. "I think I know who's house this is." Ryou was holding a letter in his trembling hand. On it was addressed: To Seto Kaiba. "We're at Kaiba's house," he finished. 

"Holy shit," yelled Joey. "S sent us to that creep's house!"

"Joey, calm down," hissed Tea. "She said that the owner would be gone for several days. Besides, I'm sure she didn't know that we all hate Kaiba," she added.

A hand landed on Tea's shoulder, "Just **what** are you guys doing in **my** house," demanded an all to familiar voice.

Tea simply reacted and before she knew it she had grabbed that arm, flipped him over her head, and slammed him to the ground.

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Hehe...hope you liked this chapter. Remember to review! Hmmm...this chapter was shorter than the one before...maybe I'll make the next one longer...


	9. How It All Began

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-gi-oh!

Thanx for the reviews! Here's the next chapter. By the way, there's going to be a lot of dialogue because I'm explaining how the enmity started (that's why Tea is not going to play that much of a role in this chapter). By the way....it's really long! So fasten your seatbelts!

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Everyone turned around as Tea looked at the downed Kaiba. 

"Welcome to the club," muttered Marik. 

"oh...uh..sorry Kaiba. I did that out of habit....," Tea said to the now groaning Kaiba. 

Kaiba braced his hand on the wall as he gingerly got up. "Before I call security to throw you guys out for trespassing and attempted assault," Kaiba said icily, rubbing his head, "How did you get in here? You couldn't have gotten in here without alerting the alarm." 

Everyone looked at Tea and said, "Ask her."

Tea: x__x "Well...would you believe me if I said we got here by magic?" she said with a weak grin. 

Kaiba: -__- "Okay, I'm going to call secur-" A umph sound was heard behind him. A disheveled Shalanelle appeared. Streaks of blood showed on her face and hands.

"Shalanelle! Are you okay?" cried Tea. Shalanelle gave her a thumbs up. 

"Never been better!....This your new friend?" she replied, looking at the angry Kaiba. 

"I am the owner of this house," said Kaiba stiffly. 

S: O___O "Oops....you weren't supposed to be here for a couple of days," she said looking slightly flustered.

Kaiba gazed at Shalanelle, taking in her dirty appearance and blood on her cheek. "I came back early," he said coldly. 'Damn!' he thought. 'She's beautiful.' (I'm describing her now....I'll try to put her description in ch.2) She was wearing a white dress, now dirty, with a deep slit on the side. Snake bracelets encircled her upper arms while a black onyx necklace surrounded her neck. Set within her pale face and deep red lips were sparkling green eyes with tints of watery blue. 

"uhh...hello? Anyone there?" S said, waving her hands in front of Kaiba's face. He jerked his head back, embarrassed to be caught looking at her. 

"I don't know who you are or what they're doing here but you're trespassing," he said harshly. S smiled, "Oh but you can't stop me," she said shaking off the attempts of Tea to shut her mouth. "Shalanelle, we **are** trespassing," muttered Tea. "He is right..."

S tilted her head to one side, looking at the CEO of KaibaCorp. "Listen mister who-ever-you-are, I'm sorry to bother you, but we need to stay here for awhile. Now you're probably right, but at this point I don't feel like arguing. You can either let us stay here peacefully, or...." she said slowly raising Kaiba off the ground. "Well....you understand."

Everybody: o__o 

Kaiba visibly gulped as he started to rise even higher, now 18 ft. up in the air, face-down. "A-alright! Alright!" he yelled as S started to twirl him in the air. 

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An hour later in the living room.

S walked back in, washed and bandaged, to the living room. The gang were relaxing in front of the fire, talking quietly among themselves. Kaiba sat stiffly in a chair.

"Looks like all of you are here, good," said S. "Kaiba you get over here too, I'm sure they've already filled you in on what's been happening. Like it or not, you're now involved, unfortunately. He'll probably hunt you down for giving us shelter." "Really now," she said shaking her head, "shouldn't have came back early....but what's done is done." 

"I'm going to train you all in martial arts or at least in some defense techniques," she said seriously, looking into everyone's faces. "For now, we're safe. I know you're probably all very tired right now, so I'm going to let you guys rest."

Tea looked up at her. "Aren't you forgetting something?" she said with a raised eyebrow. 

"What!"

Tea coughed in her hand that sounded a lot like, explain husband. 

"What did you say?," S said pointedly, looking at Tea dangerously.

"**Ex**plain husband!" coughed Joey. S turned to look at him. Joey looked away, coughing like crazy. "Sorry something in my throat," he said with a straight face.

"Oh alright!" S exclaimed with a huff. "As you all know, there is a....lot of....bad feeling between me and him," she said, referring to her husband. 

"I already told you that it was in name only, but I didn't really explain how it came to be."

With a sad sigh, she continued. "Imagine that you're a spirit and you have a family but it's made up of people/spirits loyal to you . One of your own people gets killed by another spirit. Blood feud comes between the two. Allies emerge as more and more people get involved, thus more enemies. Eventually it gets so bad that it is total war. However there are innocents being drawn in as well. Finally a couple of the spirits who are part of neither party uses the Dragon of Light to judge which party is right."

Everyone: o__O 

"Dragon of Light is the most powerful being that rules over everybody," explained S. "But he only interferes between the spirits if one of us call him and it has to be a very good reason too." 

"He judged that to solve this, the leaders of both parties would be combined in marriage, thus ending the conflict," she said with a disgusted look on her face. "Since most of the leaders were killed and I was one of the most powerful spirits that was left on my side, I was joined in marriage with him." 

"Since he ruled that we were to stop fighting, we had too. But I think he knew that we would continue to fight secretly, thus he gave me the job of protecting the mortals. Our fight had killed a lot of them so I had to take the job of protecting them as punishment."

"However," she said looking at Tea, "my husband-in-name-only tried to start trouble with my side as expected, and started manipulating some of the humans. There was another skirmish and the Dragon of Light was called forth again."

"By this time, my....I'll call him by his name, S'nauh, had killed several thousands of mortals. This time the Dragon was....very angry with S'naugh because of all the problems he was causing and decreed him and his allies banished from our realm forevermore, stripped of their rank of spirits. S'naugh's side then devoted their time trying to destroy the earth or at least kill as many mortals as they could, blaming our side for their banishment.

Still looking at Tea, "The Dragon then made a prophecy that someone in your family line would be the only one to stop S'naugh with the gift that you now have. The Dragon of Light then disappeared, never to be seen again."

"Thus our side devoted our time trying to protect your family line....then S'naugh developed a spell that could force the person to work for him," said S softly. "So far, you're the fourth person to have the gift. The first two were long dead before the Dragon made his prophecy. But the third person.....the one that **I** was supposed to guard and train was.....taken from us to his side by the spell," S said while tears came unbidden into her eyes. She looked down at her hands, gripped tightly together in her lap, "..the one I was supposed to guard," she repeated softly. 

Everyone was silent, the only thing that could be heard was the crackling of the fire as the embers popped and sparked. 

S looked up, a don't-you-dare-pity-me look on her face. 

Kaiba was the first to break the uneasy silence. "If this is all true, why didn't he just use his 'allied' spirits to get Tea today?"

"He did......the leader is a spirit, not as good as S'naugh and I are, but good enough," she said frowning. "But I don't recognize him....he must be a newbie. S'naugh didn't know that I had already got to Tea first, that's why he only sent one spirit."

"Besides," she added, "he thinks that he'll just use the spell and Tea'll come over to his side either way." 

Joey spoke up next. "So your sayin' that this is practically a war over earth?" he said incredulously.

"Yes, his side will try to destroy every mortal possible in revenge of everything that has happened between us. And also because they fear that if Tea could kill someone as powerful as S'naugh, then they wouldn't stand a chance...," she left the sentence hanging.

"If I'm supposedly that powerful.....wouldn't your side fear me as well?" said Tea directly. 

".......Ye-e-essss......but for now they think you can destroy S'naugh for them," said S with an apologetic expression.

Tea:**x**___**x** "So, you're saying that on S'naugh's side, they will either kill me or force me to work for them. And then on **your** side, they're gonna just **use** me to do their dirty work?!!! The way I see it, is that both of you are made of the same stuff. Both want me as they're mindless puppet!" she said in an outraged tone, her voice steadily rising. 

S looked at her unwaveringly. "I'm sorry Tea," she said simply.

Tea suddenly felt a wave of guilt. "I-I'm sorry Shalanelle, I know you're not like that....," she said awkwardly. 

S gave a small smile, "It's not that bad. My side isn't as stubborn as S'naugh's side is. They know that you play a big part in this, I'm pretty sure that they'll get rid of that foolish notion quickly when they meet you. Besides, they still remember what happened to Takeena. They'll treat you with the respect that you deserve." 

Suddenly they heard a snoring sound. Tristan was slumped on the couch, drool coming out of the corner of his mouth. 

S: o__O "Well, so much for the serious-ness of this talk!" exclaimed S, laughing. 

"Huh," Tristan said, waking up and wiping his mouth with his hand. "What happened?"

"Oh, nothing, I was just explaining how we're gonna save the world from evil spirits and still manage to survive," she said smiling.

"Well," S said, looking at the clock, "That took a long time. You guys need your rest....I'm going to sleep now....I'm sure Kaiba can show you to your rooms." With that she stood up from the chair she was sitting in and left the room.

Everyone stared at each other over her abrupt departure.

"Well, I'm going to get some beauty sleep," said Mai yawning. "I have a headache over all this."

As everyone was shown to their rooms by Kaiba, Yami was lost in thought over all this. 'I never thought that the great pharoah would be such an insignificant thing in this world,' he thought to himself. 'Poor Tea, she seems overwhelmed by all this.....oh wait! I forget to tell her about Marik and Bakura!'

He jogged up to catch up with Kaiba, who was about to show the rest of the people (Bakura, Marik, and Tea) their rooms. "Tea!" he called out. "Can I talk with you for a second?"

"Sure," she said. Marik looked sideways at Yami. 'Uh-oh, did he hear my conversation with Bakura?' he thought to himself. At the same time, Bakura was quickly coming to the same conclusion. Both thought to themselves, 'Gotta stop him before Tea knows!'

"Wait!" said Marik. "I want Yami to stay in the room next to me." 

"Yeah," Bakura chimed in. "Put him next to me too (shooting a daggered look at Yami)." 

Yami: sweatdrop

Both of them were looking at Yami viciously, with an evil glint in their eyes. 

Kaiba: O__o "Well," he said slowly, looking at the rabid looks in their faces, "sure." 'heh,' the thought to himself. 'Hopefully that stupid pharaoh will get killed and I won't have to worry about beating him anymore.'

Tea: O__o

"Don't worry about him, Tea," said Marik smiling evilly. "He'll tell you it in the morning," draping an arm around the sweating Yami.

"O-okay," said Tea, a weird expression on her face.

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That's the end of this 2000 word chapter! Yeah, I know it was mostly dialogue and all but I had to explain how this all began or else you guys would be so confused! So I was like sooner or later I'm gonna have to explain it... By the way, do you want Tea with Marik or Bakura? So far it's been all Marik.......some want Tea with Seto. Anywayz Review and tell me what you want and if you liked this chapter. Oh, and tell me if you want S to be with Seto or not.


	10. Traitor

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-gi-oh! but if I did, I would shoot anyone who would dare try to hook up with my Seto Kaiba.....waaaahhh! I'm in love with a cartoon! It's just not fair.

Ahem...so anywayz thanx for your reviews!!!!! Sorry if the other chapter wasn't focused on Tea. Shalanelle plays a pretty big role in this story.....however Tea is the star. MMMm...I'm eatin' pecan praline ice cream at midnight...yumm!...hehe...on with the story. This has some humor in it. So far it's Marik and Tea.

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The next morning.

Tea groggily woke up. As she changed into the outfit S gave her, she could hear shouts of pain and anguish outside her door.

"What the hell?" she muttered as she stumbled to open the door. "Huh?" she said as she looked out the door. "Where's the sound comin' from?" She followed the noise to the courtyard.

There in the courtyard stood Shalanelle. Around her were her friends, groaning. 

"Owwww," whimpered Joey. "That hurts!" he said clutching his shoulder.

Next to him was a battered Ryou. "Mommy---" Ryou moaned. Tea smiled to herself. 'That's Shalanelle for you!' she said to herself. Next to Ryou was the infamous Kaiba. His normally sneering face was gone, in its place was a shocked expression. He was flat on his back, clutching his...ahem..jewels. 

"I told you to block my kick," said Shalanelle, very amused. "ggghhhh..." was the only sound that could be heard from the multi-millionaire (or billionaire). 

A trembling Tristan was standing in front of S. "Okay now," she instructed, "all you have to do is do a feint from the left but then hit me from the right. I'll attack you, pretending I don't know your faking it."

"Ready? Ok, hit me!"

Within seconds Tristan was rolling on the floor, clutching his ribs. "I just told you to feint!" yelled a now annoyed S. 

"Shalanelle! You're thinking they're me. They just aren't fast enough," said Tea laughing. 

"Well missy, I'll see you try to instruct them," said S peevishly. "Why don't you take Marik, Bakura, and Yugi and train them. I'll train Malik and Yami as well as the others." 

"Honestly," she huffed in displeasure, "it's like teaching baboons how to dance!"

Tea looked at Marik who was lounging on the steps. "Okay you," she said pointing to him. "It's your turn." 

"Okay now, position yourself like this. I'm going to attack you from the right. Block it like this. Got it? Okay....ready?" With that Tea moved slowly from the right to give Marik a chance to block. 'Hmm,' thought Marik, 'she's being lenient on me. Guess I'll take advantage of that.'

He hooked his leg around hers, tripping her to the floor. But Tea rebounded back by scissor kicking him, so that he fell as well.

However, he fell on top of her. "uggh...get off, you're heavy!" said Tea blushing looking straight into his lavender eyes. 'Whoa, I never realized how deep his eyes are....I could get lost in them. Mental check, make sure to watch out for his eyes,' she said to herself.

Marik blushed a dark red, "S-sorry," he stammered. He tried to get up but one of Tea's legs was still hooked around his. Tea flushed, "hehe, sorry about that." 

She quickly flipped him off her, making him fly in to the flower beds next to them. "Aaaah, I'm sorry....I keep on doing that to you." 

Marik: x__x 'This is what I get for liking this girl. I'm going to be dead by the time I ask out,' he mumbled to himself.

Bakura watched the show with a grin. 'At this rate I might have a chance with Tea.....gahh! Not again....this is only competition........I am so stupid, why did I say that to Marik yesterday.'

"That's it!" yelled S. "We're takin' a break!" Mai came out, carryin' food. 

"How come you didn't want to train?" asked Tea. "Oh please," replied Mai. "And ruin my figures with bruises. You've gotta be kiddin' me," she said rolling her eyes.

Shalanelle was mid way walking toward Mai when she stopped dead in her tracks and said, "Shoot!"

"Gaah!" yelled Joey, "don't shoot me! I promise I'll do better next time...Just don't shoot!"

S: x__x "No, not that. Tea, I forgot to tell you. I've contacted my friends and you're going to meet with the rest of the people on my side today in about.....4 hrs."

"What!" exclaimed Tea.

********************************************

Four hours later.

Everyone was walking on a polished marble floor. S led them to a huge oak door. A young man about twenty guarded the door. "Thank you C'rail," S murmured. The man bowed deeply, his long white hair spilling across his shoulder to touch the floor. 

"Well," breathed Mai, "if all the spirits look like this, I'm in heaven."

They entered into a huge room that soared above them. Everyone looked in awe and astonishment, even the great Seto Kaiba was surprised. This room exceeded any room he had ever seen. They were on a walkway that ended at a huge chair with a canopy above it. In a file stood guards at attention, on either side of the walkway. Above the walkway sat the spirits, who were solemnly watching the group. Tea raised her eyes upwards, it seemed the endless rows of what looked like mini-platforms with a silver chair filled with the people (spirits) went on forever. 

Shalanelle straightened her back. Her usually mischevious face changed into a calm demeanor fit for a Queen. With a negligent gesture, she motioned the others to sit into the empty silver chairs near the canopy. The others nervously sat in the chairs, furtively looking at each other. She waited for a few moments and then started walking to the canopied dais. As she walked her training outfit transformed into a black dress that swept out behind her. A sheer red cloak in a spider design settled over her, hooding her head and face. Her face became paler and her lips darker. Fire rings sparkled on her fingers as power stones were linked on a chain, hooked on her neck. Surrounding her waist winked black and red crystals on a silver chain. As she sat down on the platform, it started to rise and float to the middle of the colossal room. As if that was a signal, the chairs that the gang was in began to rise as well. The chairs rose until they were the same height as Shalanelle. "These are the mortals that I spoke of," S said without looking at the friends. 

"Stand up Tea, show them who you are," S said looking at her. Nervously Tea stood up. A murmur rose among the people. A heavyset man stood up, his chair rising. "So, this is the next gifted person. She has the same spirit like Takeena," he said in a bored tone. Tea looked at S and saw a flicker of pain at the mention of Takeena's name. 

Tea frowned, things did not seem as good as S had described. S gave a cold smile to the man. "Ah, Raleth, you always did like to challenge me," she said with a mocking sigh.

The man smiled back in return. "Oh but Shalanelle, really, I was just questioning whether this..girl would fail as Takeena did. You do know the risk of training this girl.......Takeena herself killed many of us after she fell under S'naugh's spell."

"Are you challenging my judgement," Shalanelle said softly. "My you are direct....if you put it that way...yes I am," he said, his eyes bleak. He bowed to her mockingly.

Shalanelle swept her gaze across the room. "Who supports this fool's claim?" she said. After a few moments of hesitation, approximately a third of the people raised their hand. S raised an eyebrow. "Who do you challenge," she said to Raleth, her face into a frigid mask. "Why, Tea of course," he replied.

'Wha-what's going on?' thought Tea bewilderingly. S slowly turned to look at the aghast Tea. "Tea," she said quietly. "By the rules that we uphold and since you are a temporary member, you are to be held by those rules. Raleth challenged me and thus can choose anyone that I bring in to be his opponent. I'm sorry Tea, I didn't not expect insubordination."

"Are you saying I have to fight him?" hissed Tea. Shalanelle looked away, "Yes."

Raleth smiled at Tea. "Well girl, as the receiver of the challenge you choose the time of the match." Tea stared at him. She deliberately paused before saying, " Now."

"What!" said S. "Now," repeated Tea. "Of course," Raleth said smiling. "No, Tea, choose a later time, he's dangerous. He knows how to fight and he has magic!" S said glaring at Tea. "At least let me tell you how he fights!"

"Fine, we fight in two hours," said Tea, turning her back to him.

As the group and S walked out of the room that was now arguing, Marik said angrily to Shalanelle, "You know for someone who claims to be trying to help Tea, you seem to be getting her into more trouble."

"Calm down," said Tea, her eyes distant, "it's not her fault. You know S, you might have some traitors in your group." 

"Well," said S, "I should cut the snake by the head first, then." 

Shalanelle led them to a simple room adorned with a few couches and tables. "Tea," she said turning around to face her, "you haven't fought with anyone who used magic before. He's best in illusion, weak in fire. Obviously he's not good as you in fighting but does know the basics." She handed Tea a couple rings and a necklace. "Wear the outfit I gave you and all the weapons." She winked at Tea, "We're gonna fight dirty."

***********************************************************

Two hours later.

On a floating platform Tea stood, facing Raleth. She was wearing the outfit except with a couple of more weapons and a mini laser. 'Okay remember the rings will help you block the magic and some will reverse it back to him. The necklace will actually activate fire spells,' Tea said, trying to reassure herself. She stared across the dais into Raleth's silver eyes. 

A woman in white robes rose up and lifted a hand. A translucent shield surrounded the platform. "We are now protected, we will judge the victor by the first who falls. Complete protection is given, no sound will be heard, we can only watch. You may begin," she said. 

Raleth smiled at Tea. "Oh you stupid girl, you fell for my trap. I was going to kill you when you were just a little girl, before the gift in you emerged. But these idiots kept a rather close eye on me. But now....I have the chance." 

They started to circle each other. "Oh, and one more thing," he added, "did that bitch Shalanelle ever tell you what happened with Takeena? No? Somehow Takeena got captured when we were supposed to be watching her. The spirits that were guarding her was slaughtered. Everyone thought that S'naugh had killed them.......but you do you know who did?.....Me." 

"I knew you were power-hungry but not that ambitious as to betray your own side!" said Tea in disbelief. 

"Silly girl!" he laughed. "I was never on her side. I'm a spy for S'naugh, I work for him!"

"And now," he continued, "I will present S'naugh a present. Your head." With that he lifted both of his arms up. A purple glow appeared around his hands. "Good bye girl, may you see Takeena in the afterlife!" The glow spread out and shot toward Tea. 

Tea jumped as high as she could, but the glow went up after her. 'Damn,' she thought. She activated the fire spell around her neck. Black flames streamed from the stone and disintegrated his spell.

'Hmmm, it seems that Shalanelle gave her a couple of presents,' he thought. 'But no one can surpass me in illusions!'

Suddenly there were mirror images of him everywhere. "Can you tell where I am?" he taunted. One of the figures behind Tea, raised their hand and shot a spell at her. She jumped to the side but heard him say, "I'm over here." She turned around and a black bolt hit her in the face. 

One of the rings glowed and white light appeared around her. The bolt bounced off, and returned to the figure who shot it. "Uggh," Raleth said, as he deflected the bolt. "She has a mirror force ring."

"What's the matter," Tea taunted back. "Can't beat a little girl?" She focused and centered everything on her hearing. 'Aha, I can hear his heartbeat and smell the sweat,' she thought. She edges slowly to the left. Suddenly everything was black. "But you can't attack me if you can't see me," he replied.

"But I can smell you!" she said as she pushed off with her right, her left foot extended. Her foot smashed into his stomach. Quickly she threw her dagger at his chest, but it bounced right off. "Sorry girl, but you aren't the only who is protected," he said. "You've done extraordinarily well against me, but this is where the playtime ends. Shalanelle didn't know that I also am very good at mind control spells, thanks to S'naugh!"

A whirl of wind lifted him upwards as he clasped his hands as if in prayer, in front of him. He opened his eyes, and they glowed red. A black ball of light appeared in front of him. 'Just like the one Takeena was touched by!' Tea thought frantically. 'I gotta stop the spell...but how?'

She reached into her pocket and drew out the laser. 'Maybe he's vulnerable to attacks if he's making a spell, but I gotta hurry, he's almost done!'

She sprang to one side and shot the laser at him. Raleth blocked the beam, losing his spell. Using that moment, she threw two of her triangular daggers at him from both sides. As he raised both of his harm to deflect them, she shot him in the chest. 

"What?" he said in amazement as he stared at her. He looked downward at his bleeding chest. Still keeping his gaze locked on her own steady one, he toppled over. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ok, this chapter is done! I had to stop because then I would make the chapter too long.

hope u liked it,.......i know it's different from most stories....review!


	11. Sweet Talk

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-gi-oh!

Yay! I'm back! Without further adieu, on with the next chapter! Oh by the way, au revoir...maitenant is french. I think that's the only question I remember. I'm so sleepy right now...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The rain hit the glass window with a soft sound. Tea looked out the window, toward Kaiba's garden. She watched the droplets of rain land on the petals of vibrant flowers in the very center of the enclosed plot. Everything seemed to be in a dreamland. The blood on her shirt...no, wait...she had washed...the blood was gone. Her hands that grasped the windowsill clenched. 'How did I come to this?' she thought sadly. 'How did I slip and fall? (that line comes from a song in Aida).' It had seemed so easy to pull the trigger in the midst of the battle, but now....

A soft knock sounded on her door. "Come in," Tea said woodenly, without looking away from the glass pane. Shalanelle silently entered the darkened room. She gently touched Tea on the shoulder. "Want to talk about it?" she suggested. "It usually helps for the first timers."

Tea turned her head. "How...how could you do it? This...all seemed like a game. A dangerous game, albeit, but so far no one had been killed...until today..."

Shalanelle looked at her, eyes full of understanding. "It was kill or be killed, Tea. But I can understand your position. Everything is piled up on you. Just a few days ago, you were a normal girl. And now...you have just killed someone. But as I said before, when I first met you, this gift comes with consequences." She sat down on the bed, drawing Tea to sit next to her.

"Because of this gift, you now have to fight for your friend's life and yours as well. But you choose your path. I can only guide and mentor you. Your friends can only instill hope and determination...but you have to work for it. As fate landed upon me to do what I had to do, fate has landed upon you.....whether you like it or not."

"Okay, okay," said Tea with a half-hearted smile. "I think I've heard this conversation before. I just need....to be alone right now."

S stood up. "I understand," she replied. "Call me if you need me."

The door closed behind S. Tea retreated back to the window and gazed at the falling rain. A footstep was heard behind her. She whirled and crouched, ready to do battle. 

"Whoa," said Bakura, holding up his hands. "It's just me." 

"Oh," Tea said, feeling foolish. "Sorry, I'm...a little uptight right now." She eyed him speculatively. "Have...What did you think of my action today?"

Bakura looked at her for a long moment. "Raleth was evil, you did what you had to do."

"That's what everyone has been saying!" cried Tea frustratingly. "But I want to know what you really think of me now.....now that I've been changed so much..." she ended softly.

***************

Flashback

Tea stared at the growing puddle of blood that seeped beneath the downed Raleth. 'I actually killed him,' thought a shocked Tea. She looked toward the figure in white robes. The woman lifted her right arm straight in the air, and said "Raleth is defeated. Tea has defeated the challenger!" to a silent crowd. 

Tea stumbled toward Shalanelle and her friends. "He...he was a traitor....he-" Tea said, her mind still reeling over the fact that she had just killed a man. "It's alright," S said quickly, "We know. Once he started that mind spell, all the spirits realized what spell he was doing." She hugged Tea fiercely. "You actually did it!" she crowed. S's elation faded away when she saw Tea's expression. "Oh Tea, you did what you had to do," she said grasping her shoulder. Tea looked toward her friend's faces. Everyone except Marik and Bakura was looking at her with shock or utter disbelief. She stared at their faces with growing anger mingled with frustration. "I almost get killed and all you do is condone me for trying to survive?! Would you have been happier that I got killed instead??" she said, voice cracking. 

"No!" the gang cried. "It's just....it was just a shock.....of course we're happy you're okay. Better him than you," said Yugi with a concerned expression. 

"It's alright, I understand," Tea said angrily. "It was okay when I saved your lives back at school, but once I kill someone, I've crossed the line. I guess now you've seen what I've become. A monster." With that she turned on her heel and walked out of the room, leaving her friends behind.

**********************

After a pause, he said to her, "I don't think anything different about you, in fact, I think even higher of you. All this coming down upon you and yet you still fight on."

Tea stared at Bakura. "Why, thank you Bakura......That really means a lot to me," she said with a smile. "I guess I overreacted to the gang, I should apologize. It was just that I was afraid of losing myself into this fighting machine."

Bakura gazed at Tea and realized just how beautiful she was, leaning against the rain splattered window.

Just outside the door, Marik was passing by. Suddenly he thought he heard Bakura's voice inside Tea's door. 'What?' he said to himself. 'I must be imagining things.'

He walked a few steps further. His curiosity got the better of him. He tiptoed to her door and peered through the crack. Inside, Bakura was seated on the floor, talking to Tea. 'What the hell is Bakura doing inside Tea's room?!' As he leaned closer to hear their conversation, the door gave under his weight, making him land face first inside Tea's room.

Tea: o__O

Bakura: O__O

Marik: x__x "You know, the door really needs to be fixed," Marik said, lifting his head off of the carpet. "It squeaks whenever someone closes it, I was just trying to fix it when......what do you know......I fell and yes, here I am. You can continue with your conversation now." 

Tea turned purple. "Marik, Yami of Ryou! Were you eavesdropping?!"

"Ummm...why would I try to listen when you're talking? I mean," he said hastily, seeing flames shoot from Tea's eyes, "yes I was and I, for once, agree with Bakura. It was just that we both have made choices that was similar to yours today. That's why we could accept this gift and the choices you made more readily than the others." 'Ugh,' he thought, 'I can't believe I said that about Bakura of all people!'

Suddenly Tea grabbed the two of them into a hug. "Thanks, you guys!" she said squeezing them tight. "You're the greatest."

Bakura and Marik: Gaaugh.....gughhh....can you let....us bweathe....need air...

"Sorry, I forget my own strength." 

'We know!' they both thought. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

Yeah, it's short. But I had trouble writing this chapter. Before it was zoom, voom, because I was writing a chapter almost every day. But then I took that break off and now I'm tryin' to whip myself back to this story. I kinda forgot what I wrote in the earlier chapters so I was like.....whaaa? when trying to write this chapter. And also I had a writer's block, but that was most likely because I hadn't been writing this story for about a week and a half. But the next one will be longer, hopefully, and maybe some action. Thanx u guys for reviewing!


	12. Dear Friend

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-gi-oh!

Thanx for the reviews and advice....stupid brain think!!!! Anywayz I took on the advice of one and went to the book store and read for about 4 hrs. of anime. Yep! But enough talk, here's the next chapter. Oh yeah, I never really pictured S'naugh, I just portrayed him as evil. But I'll describe in the next chapter.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Next day.

It was midday when S finally called the group over for a talk in the living room. Tea entered the room, ready to apologize to her friends. But before she speak a word, Joey spoke up.

"Tea, we're all really sorry 'bout yesterday."

"No, I should apologize. This is new to me also and I would be shocked as well if I saw myself k-killing someone." She smiled at her friends. "I know you guys' too well to be really angry at you."

"Are the sappy sorry's done now?" S cut in. Everyone looked at S in surprise. "Sorry," she sighed, "not in a good mood. While you guys were asleep, I had a talk with the others and for right now, we're hangin' low until we found out whether Raleth was the only traitor. We're interrogating everyone, leaving no one out."

"Ahem.....," said Seto, pointedly. "Just how long are you guys' staying here? I have work to do, it's hard to work when-"

"Actually we're not going to be here long. Unfortunately for us, I have to bring you too. By now, they've probably found out where we are, thanks to Raleth. They'll try to attack you if you stay behind, thinking we'll come back to save you. They've done it before."

"We leave tonight, no later than 8:00. You can do whatever you want until then as long as it's within the grounds of this house," she continued. 

"Yeah! I'm goin' to the kitchen! It's lunch time!" shouted Joey. The others enthusiastically agreed with him. "Wait! No, you fools! You can only stay in your rooms!" yelled Seto, running after them, waving his arms up and down.

Tea watched her friends depart and then headed to the garden, planning for a stroll. She wasn't hungry. She breathed in the crisp air and admired the flowers as she walked around a water fountain. One of Kaiba's men approached her. "Excuse me, miss, Shalanelle requests to speak to you. Please come with me."

"What? Oh, okay." She followed him and they walked toward out of the garden. 

"Where are we going?" she asked the man. "To a private room, Shalanelle doesn't want anyone to listen." They turned a corner toward a side gate. "Wait," Tea said, slowing down, "this doesn't lead to any room. This door leaves the grounds."

"You're right, my pretty," the man said. The man suddenly shifted form into a beautiful woman. She had flowing deep purple hair with dark blue eyes. A sheer almost-toga like attire wrapped around her body showing off her buxom curves. Mist appeared around her and wrapped tendrils around Tea's neck. Tea tried to struggle but her body seemed so heavy.

"What's happening," said Tea, trying to keep from collapsing. "Just a little magic to ensure your cooperation," said the woman. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile.

S felt an uneasy feeling. "Something doesn't feel right," she muttered to herself. 'I'm so paranoid. I put enough security spells that no one would be able to get in unless they were admitted from the inside. Or unless it was one of our own people,' she mentally added. She felt a shiver go though her body. 'It coudn't be!' she thought. 'Shit! I didn't change the security spells so that no one, including my side, could get in. Someone else besides Raleth must be a traitor and is inside the grounds right now!' 

She ran into the kitchen where Seto was grappling with Joey and Tristan, trying to keep them away from the refrigerator. The rest was at the table eating. "You guys," she called out in the din, "where's Tea?"

Everyone stopped. "Tea?" asked Ryou. "I thought she was with you." They looked at each other. "Tea!" they all shouted and dashed for the door.

"I sense her over that way!" S yelled, motioning with her hand. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As the world started to spin in front of her, Tea distantly heard yells. 'S, anyone, help me,' Tea thought before she blacked out.

"There!" said S, running toward the woman who has picking up Tea. She skidded to a stop in front of the purple-haired woman. "Oh, Jalena, how could you!" she said in shock. "I would expect Raleth to be a traitor but you?......" 

The woman, Jalena, looked at her coldly. "You're right. You wouldn't understand. You who had everything, power, beauty, favorite of the Dragon, but most of all you had the fortune to be married to S'naugh.....So of course you wouldn't understand why I switched sides."

Is that why you changed sides?!" S said in disbelief. 

Jalena snorted, her eyes a wintry blue. "Oh you are so naive! You can't believe that I could backstab you? It was so easy! S'naugh promised me power, so much that you would be like an ant compared to me. You had everything, but, no.....you never used it to your benefit. But I, I took up the opportunity." She shook her head mockingly, "You were always a stupid fool!" she spat.

"Well? What are you going to do? Kill me, like you kill all are your enemies?" Jalena said, still holding Tea in her arms.

S stared sadly into her blue eyes. "I guess even spirits have greed and ambition just like the mortals," she softly said, tears filling her eyes. "I'm sorry for bringing you into this fight, so long ago," she bit her lip, trembling. "I know the Jalena I knew long ago is gone. Gone because S'naugh's twisiting lies...But I can't let you go back to his side.........it has to end here for you........Jalena......my friend...

Jalena dumped Tea onto the ground. "I knew the consequences of my actions when I switched, and I knew the consequences when I took this mission to get Tea."

S raised a hand, and Tea floated toward her. "Here," she said, giving Tea to Yami. "Hold her." 

"Jalena.....don't fight me.....please," S said making a circular motion with one hand. A shield appeared around the two of them. 

"Protecting the mortals, just as you were told to do?" Jalena said, amused. "How ironic.....it seemed just a few thousand years ago you didn't care whether they were killed." Suddenly yellow flames erupted in front of her and weaved a cage around S, slowly closing in. "Try to dodge this, S."

There was a sizzling sound and water flooded on top of the fiery net. "Jalena....don't do this....don't make me fight," S whispered. 

Jalena merely gave her a tight-lipped smile while turning into a black fog. "I always fight," she said, her voice sounding out from the middle of the fog. The fog blanketed over S, choking her.

"Jalena....don't," S said spluttering. S waved her hand and a gusty wind swirled around the vapor, blowing it to one side. Jalena reformed back to her human body. "I know you're better than me but will you actually kill me?" she said tauntingly.

Jalena put her hands out in front of her, green and blue light arcing through the air, forming a ball of energy that was growing bigger and bigger. "Unless you kill me, this will come after you, and you won't be able to dodge it." 

S looked helplessly at Jalena who smiled. "I knew you couldn't kill your good friend," she said, releasing the energy. 

"I'm sorry Jalena," said S softly. As the energy raced towards her, she formed a mirror spell between her hands. The energy ripped through and hit the mirror with a bang. Suddenly it was rocketing back toward Jalena and hit her in the chest, exploding. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay, that's the end of this chapter. Please review! Thanx. :)


	13. Death of Heroes

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-gi-oh! Oh, and I didn't read my reviews yet (I started the same day I started the previous chapter). Technically S is stronger than Tea because she has magic and knows how to fight. But Tea is better fighter, but if Tea had magic trinkets and such (like rings...) she would be stronger if not better than S. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From outside, the group watched in horror as the energy whizzed toward S. But then it bounced back and hit Jalena.

"Jalena," S cried, running to her side. Jalena coughed up blood as she whispered to S, "I'm sorry.....for everything. When I changed sides I felt so horrible, but what was done was done and there was no turning back." Her face grimaced as more blood trickled from the side of her mouth. "I guess I did fall prey to him.....I was just so jealous.....you had everything....when he offered both Raleth and I that power.....I wanted it so bad."

"Don't talk Jalena, I understand," S said, holding her hand, tears streaming down her cheeks. "But I need to ask you one more question, was it only you two?"

Jalena gave a weak smile, "Fortunately.....yes. Could you----you just do one thing for me......bury me near the sea. That's where we had our happiest memories there."

"Of course," S said. Jalena gave her thumbs up and said softly, "Tell everyone I'm sorry." Her eyes slowly closed and a content smile appeared on her face.

The shield disappeared and Yami slowly approached S. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, but there isn't time for talk. This was a distraction."

Yami was confused. "What do you mean?"

"Raleth knew that I would catch Jalena. He sent her to her death. He must be mounting an attack on this place right now." S stood up, cocking her head. "I sense him and the people on his side around my security spell. I'm callin' backup." A white glow pulsed around S and she said something in a different language. 

Suddenly around the group fifty spirits appeared. "They're going to break my spell," she told the spirits. "I want three of you to guard the group, especially Tea, oh, and wake her up with rejuvenating mists," she told to three of the spirits. "The rest of you, fan out."

The bewildered group was suddenly left alone with the three spirits. One of them knelt and touched Tea on the forehand. Blue mist appeared on his hand and Tea breathed in deeply. "Wh-Where am I?" she said, opening her eyes. A slender man with a long blond braid dressed in a jerkin and loose pants. Knives were clasped to his upper arms. "I am Kaith, we are here to protect you guys by order of Shalanelle."

Tea sat up, looking around her. "Where is she?"

"Security will be breached soon. She went off to fight them with others of her kind," he replied.

Tea looked at the body of the purple-haired woman. "S saved me?" she said, more of a statement than a question. 

Her friends nodded an affirmative. 

The man who said he was Kaith told the group, "We need to move to a safer place."

"Now wait a minute," objected Seto, "what are you guys going to do to my house?"

"We will pay you back tenfold if we win this war," said Kaith, his expression calm. "But for now we must move."

A portal appeared, and he motioned for them to move. "There is an island that appears to be deserted. They will not suspect us there."

"Will they be okay?" Tea asked, worried about S. 

"They should be fine, if they are in trouble, they can always call in more backup."

Tea entered the portal, casting on backward glance on Jalena's body. "What about her?"

Kaith looked at Jalena's crumpled form. "By orders of Shalanelle, she is to be buried by the sea, we'll bury her near the island," he said, picking Jalena up.

******************************

Shalanelle could feel her spell being battered by tremendous forces of combined magic. 'Damn!' she thought. 'I should have relocated the group earlier, oh well, Kaith will.'

"It's starting break!" she yelled to the people around her. Suddenly people on S'naugh's side flooded the grounds. S chose her first victim and blasted him with a lightening bolt. "There's too many," she thought frantically. "I need more backup."

But abruptly the spirits on the opposing side left the battle and floated midair. An immense glow of red appeared around them. "They're doing a defense shield around them so we can't attack," said a warrior on the right of her. "But why? They can't attack us either."

"Gelan!" S commanded. "I want you to ask everyone to do an exterior containment spell around them. They're up to something and I don't want to found out what."

The man bowed and yelled the order to the others. A purple glow started to go around the floating people. But just as the sealing was almost complete, a bright beam of red shooted out and slipped through the purple sealing spell. The light hovered in midair as if deciding where to go, suddenly it darted off to one side, speeding southward.

'Uh-oh,' S thought, 'that was no defense spell, that was the forbidden search and destroy spell, it's trying to locate Tea.'

"Gelan! Take over for me! I'm going over! I don't care how you do it but kill them before it's too late!!" she yelled, speeding after the light.

Gelan nodded but yelled a warning to her, "Shalanelle! Be careful! Don't try anything foolish, use one of the warriors!"

'This is bad,' S thought as she flew after the red light. 'We were so unprepared for this! That spell was supposed to be locked away....it killed so many great spirits before. And this stupid spell is too powerful for me to try to stop the light. I'll just get killed if I try.' 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Author's Note: The part where "use one of the warriors" means, let the spell hit one of the warriors protecting Tea. (Because it explodes on contact with the target and automatically gives a fatal wound, and Tea is much more important than any of the other spirits guarding her.....basically it's saying sacrifice one of the warriors.)

*************************************

Tea stepped out of the portal into a lush forest. "What island are we on?" she asked Kaith. "I do not know the name," he replied, "but it is owned by a man named Pegasus.

Everybody: x____x

"If they find us here, hopefully they'll attack Pegasus first," said Joey.

"Either that, or I'll kill Pegasus first," Kaiba snarled. Suddenly Kaith held his hand up. "Wait, S is trying to contact me."

"Kaith," contacted S. "Where are you? There is a destroyer spell coming for Tea."

"I'm on the island owned by Pegasus. Do you want me to move Tea?"

"Wait," replied S. "I'm going to set a portal up so that I'll be there faster than the spell."

Suddenly S appeared besides them. "Tea you need to be moved from here fast, a spell has been sent to kill you. It seems S'nauh has taken matters in to his own hands and decided to kill you as his last resort."

But before they could move, the spell had reached the island. Immediately the three warriors surrounded Tea. "Protect her!" cried S. However two other beams of light reached them. "They released two more!" gasped S. "But only one escaped!..." 

'Something must have happened to Gelan and the others,' she thought, trying not to think of what might have happened to them.

The first light dove upward and then flashed downward toward Tea's unprotected head. One of the warriors pushed Tea down and took the blow. Tea, huddled, stiffening as blood splattered her head. As she peered through her hands she saw one of the spirit run head on into the second light. "What are they doing!" she screamed. 'They're purposely killing themselves!' she thought. 

The last light hovered, as if deciding how to get past Kaith and hit Tea. It made a beeline for Kaith who was not moving from his standing position. Right before it was about to make contact with his chest, it veered up and around his neck, toward Tea's unprotected body. Watching, Shalanelle knew she only had a few seconds to spare. 

'Forgive me,' she thought mentally to Tea. "Retournez!" she called. In a flash, Tea and S switched places just in time. Tea looked at Shalanelle and watched as the light hit S in the cheek. 'Remember me,' said S in Tea's head, before she burst into flames.

"Shalanelle! NO-O-O!!!!" Tea screamed, holding her hand in front of her face, wincing as the flames turned white, almost blinding her.

Then all was quiet. What was Shalanelle was just a pile of ashes that drifted away with the gentle breeze.

Tea felt as if her heart been ripped away and a cold stone was replaced in its stead. "Sha-Shalanelle," she whispered, not noticing the tears dripping down her face. She fell to her knees. "They died for me.....**she** died for me!" she screamed. She clutched her hair and pulled in fury and pain. 

"Tea, no!" said Marik, running toward her. He pulled her into his arms as she started to cry in earnest. "It was because of me," Tea muttered into his shirt. She started to beat her fists against him. "It was because of me," she repeated.

Marik winced as she started to flail at him. "It's alright, Tea, it's alright," he said, not trying to move away from her blows. 

Around them, the rest of the group was still staring at the ashes of Shalanelle, and the other two warriors. "Why?" was the only question Yugi could ask, in a shaky voice to Kaith. Kaith was frozen in shock. He slowly turned to look at the group. "Because we need Tea to defeat him. Even at the cost of sacrificing ourselves. But," his voice starting to break, "it was supposed to be me.....not her."

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Okay, that's the end of this one. I know, I liked Shalanelle too....But this will be the incentive that will enable Tea to defeat S'nauh. So plz review! Thank you all.


	14. Sweet Temptation

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-gi-oh!

Thanx for reviewing!! I think I'll reincarnate S because of the overwhelming response over her death. But that'll be toward the very end. Anywayz I forgot to describe S'nauh so I'll just add his desc. at the end of this chapter. On the advice of one, there is more romance in this one (don't worry it isn't mush, in fact it's...well you'll see) Thanx for R&R!

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There was a soft sound, and around them, Gelan and the other warrior spirits left behind were there. Gelan took one glance at the scene and understood what had just happened. Immediately all of the warriors knelt and bowed their head. "May the winds carry you to the beyond this world. May be free of pain and death to travel the other realms," Gelan intoned. 

"What happened, Gelan?" said Kaith in a harsh voice. "She said only one escaped."

"S'nauh had other warriors in hiding. We knew we were outnumbered but not that badly. We had to continue to fight and while we did, some of his men took the time of destroying our containment spell. By the time we realized that the fighting was supposed to distract us so that more spells could be released, two more had already gone," Gelan said in a neutral tone. 

"We had to use the Dead of the Living spell to destroy them," he finished. Kaith's eyes widened, "How many of ours were killed doing that spell?" "........half."

Tea had finally calmed down enough to talk. She slowly moved away from the warmth of Marik's chest. "I assume that these spells were powerful," she said, her eyes blank. The men looked at her and bowed. "Yes," said Gelan. "While you were gone we were forced to use a spell that automatically takes the lives of some of the spellcasters. But fortunately we managed to destroy them all except we did it a little too late to save Shalanelle."

Tea nodded. Her mind was clear of emotions. She felt as if she had been washed clean of sensation. Everything about her was calm and calculated. "Shouldn't we leave this place, just in case more come?" she asked.

The men looked at each other. "We should be safe for now," Gelan said. "We did a thorough job back at the Kaiba's residence."

"What about her?" said Tea, pointing at Jalena's body. "I will bring her," Kaith said. "I'm going back to the spirit's meeting place to tell them of these events. Especially the breaking of the forbidden destroyer spell. Gelan and the rest of the men will stay here."

He picked up Jalena in his arms, and a portal appeared. He walked through and vanished. 

Gelan turned toward the rest of the gang. "For shelter we will go into this castle."

"Unfortunately there are bad feelings between us," Yami said, speaking up in the quiet. Gelan raised an eyebrow, "Oh? Well then if this Pegasus does not agree then we will force him."

"Sounds familiar," muttered Kaiba, but his heart wasn't into the jibe. It was funny out of all the women that threw themselves at his feet, the only one that he admired and respected was Shalanelle. She had gone through a lot worse than he had and yet still opened her heart to others. 

Next to him, Joey, Tristan, Yugi, and Ryou were all silently thinking somber thoughts. "It's just not fair," Ryou broke out. "It's-I mean why Shalanelle?"

"I'm sure Tea can give you a lecture on how life's unfair," said Gelan. "As much as I would like to chitchat, we need to get into the castle. We are indeed safe for now but all this open space is a perfect place for ambush."

"How can you say that," said an outraged Yami. "The leader, the strongest spirit of your people has just died and all you can say is we need to get in a castle. You have shown no tears or grief."

"Whoa, Yami, hold up," said Mai, her normally perfect attire, rumpled and dirty. "Can't you see he is in pain, it's just that he doesn't want to show it to us mortals," she whispered into his ear. 

"Sorry," said Yami stiffly to Gelan who nodded curtly. A portal appeared and he gestured them to move. Tea did a backward glance to where Shalanelle and the two other spirits had just died. 'It's like deja vu,' she thought. Her gaze swept the forest, memorizing every bloodspot, every speck of ashes, even the footprints of the spirits. 'I want to memorize everything,' she thought fiercely, 'only after I kill S'nauh and see the light die in his eyes will I forget this.' 

'I will avenge you Shalanelle,' she thought, tilting her head up to the blue expanse of sky. She let the sun's rays kiss her face as she felt the bittersweet feelings of revenge run through her blood. 

***************************

Pegasus' castle.

It had taken a long time of persuasion, but Pegasus had finally relented on letting them stay there.

"Only," he warned, "if this Dragon of Light that you keep on saying that will reward me can bring someone that I.....know......back to life."

His lips in an implacable line, Gelan agreed. As they retired to their rooms, Tea caught the sleeve of Marik. "Marik," she said softly, "can I talk to you privately?"

He followed her into her room. Tea closed the door behind him. She took a deep breathe and said hurriedly, "Do you think of me as more than a friend?" Marik blinked. "Well.....I....

'Say it!' an inner voice in his head screamed. "I....don't think of you as a ...a...you're just a mortal after all," he finished lamely.

Tea's face fell. Then in a flash she composed herself. "Well it's what they say," she said with an empty smile, "don't let......love........get in the way of revenge. I just thought that maybe we had some connection going on, but you're right. I need to concentrate on my duty of," she gave a short laugh, "saving the world."

Marik stared at her. "Tea, I.....----" 

"It's alright," she cut in. "I thought maybe I could get some comfort after just seeing someone really close to me die in front of me and I translated it into this do-you-love-me accusation." She looked down at the velvet carpeting. "I'm kind of making a fool of myself in front of a guy that I just admitted liking..........It's just that.....you always acted so despicable toward me, but then your actions would say something else. And before I knew it I started falling for you. I realized it last night after you and Bakura left my room." She looked straight into his eyes. 

She stepped closer to him. "And then I thought, maybe I could feel what it is to be loved back. My life had been so empty after my parents died and I just needed to feel comforted and....loved again." She shook her head angrily. 

"It's really funny....I felt so calm right after Shalanelle died. It was like her death erased all my emotions and only left this burning desire for revenge. But then this other feeling crept up and......" she let the sentence trail. 

Marik was speechless. All this time he had wanted to tell Tea his feelings. But now Tea was telling her feelings. It was ironic, he even didn't have the courage to tell her what he felt. 

"I....I do care for...you," he choked out, "but....."

Tea smiled a mirthless smile. "I understand." She walked to the door and opened it. "I....think I need to be left alone for awhile....."

Marik looked at her, his eyes willing her to understand his predicament. Then he quietly left.

Tea stared into empty space for a few moments. "I need some fresh air," she muttered.

As she wandered through the hall, she caught sight of Gelan. He was drinking heavily, staring morosely at a painting in the middle of the hall.

"Tea," he acknowledged. Tea peered at his face, was there tears running down?

"Gelan," she said hesitantly, "are you oikay?"

After a long moment he said softly, "I loved her." 

"You mean Shalanelle?

"Yes, but I was too scared to tell her, too intimidated to tell her. I thought I wasn't good enough for her. And now.......she's gone."

Tea was at a loss of words. "I miss her too."

Gelan looked sharply at Tea. "She brought you up good," he said. "But don't let revenge stop you from feeling any emotions at all. Everyone took her death hard, but you the hardest because she was like a foster sister to you."

Tea was silent for a moment, and said haltingly, "What was she like?"

He sighed. "She....was good friends with Jalena, the woman she had to kill today. They played a lot near the sea.....But I think inside she was never happy. She had to take the role of being a leader, and deal with death at a young age. Her only enjoyment was tutoring others into becoming a better person whether it was martial arts or magic."

"She's changed me a lot," Tea said in a soft voice. "At first I felt that life was so unfair to me, I had to deal with all these things, but Shalanelle had it worse....."

She turned and looked at him. "Thank you. I know it's hard to lose someone you love but I guess, if you can forgive me for saying this, she might be content now that she is free of worries and pain." She touched her hand sympathetically on his shoulder. "We're going to win this, because not only are we fighting for the innocent and loved ones but for memories of past fighters."

**********************

As Tea walked back to her room someone tapped her on the shoulder. She stilled, telling herself not to react. 

"uh...Tea," said Bakura nervously, "If.....if you ever need anything you can just ask me."

"Okay," Tea said cautiously, wondering why he was telling her this out of the blue. He never really talked to her and although he made it clear that he accepted her for who she was, it was strange the way he always turned red-faced and stammered whenever he spoke to her.

Bakura started to sweat. 'Great I was already to go tell her how I feel when I had to say that,' he thought. 

"Thanks," she said and started to walk away. "No, wait!" Bakura said desperately. He reached out, spun her around and kissed her on the lips.

Tea was frozen with shock 'He...he actually is kissing me!' she thought. "But why..why aren't I stopping him? I thought I liked.....Marik,' she said to herself confusedly. 

Bakura slowly ended the kiss. He felt like he had just ran a 5 mile race. "I know what you're going to say......just...just think about it okay?" he said raggedly and walked back to his room leaving a speechless Tea behind.

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And that is the end of this chapter. Hope you liked it! Personally I prefer Tea and Seto but most people want Marik and Bakura. 

Oh yeah, the description!

S'nauh is about 6'3" with long black hair and slightly muscular build. Red eyes as you all know set within a pale face. Looks like he doesn't set foot out of his house. Usually wears his hair in a long braid or tied back. Attire is generally dark colors. Hope this is good enough! And don't forget to REVIEW even if you're just passing by, please R&R! Thank yooooouuuuu loootttss!!


	15. It's Starting

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-gi-oh!

Wow, thanx for all the reviews! They were all really nice! And now the dilemma....marik, bakura, or seto kaiba. Earlier I had said it was probably marik, and then i got some people really wanting kaiba or really wanting seto. So I've a proposition to make so that everyone, hopefully, will be happy. Say if I choose Marik, then I'll write a brand new story (diff. plot and everything) with Tea being with Seto. Same goes with Bakura. So they'll be three stories......happy? Actually I started on the Kaiba fic.......sorry Seto fans......plz don't kill me! (running away).....I've only put one chapter but it seems okay....I think. So check it out! It's a little different. But in the beginning I had set it up as a marik and bakura fic so it kinda would be hard to put seto in.....but i'll try to add him in, even though tea probably won't be with him. Anywayz back to this chapter...enjoy!

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Tea stared at the back of Bakura as he walked away. She gently touched her fingers to her lips, she could still feel the imprint of that swift kiss. In a bemused daze she slowly walked back to her room.

"Feeling alright Mazaki?" said an all too familiar voice. 

"Seto Kaiba," Tea sighed, "what are you doing here?" Suddenly she realized that Kaiba might've seen her.....

"Kaiba!" she snapped, "how long have you been standing here?!"

He raised an eyebrow. "Just now.......you're blushing," he said incredulously. 

"What do you want," Tea said, stalking past him, opening her door. "For a fighter you seem to act pretty weird," he muttered.

Tea walked to the middle of her room and then turned to push Kaiba back. "I said what do you want?" she said in a dangerous tone. "Stop following me!"

He held his hands up mockingly. "Okay warrior-girl!" He had originally planned to take a closer look at Pegasus' castle. But when he saw Tea, he changed his mind. She seemed so confused, the opposite of what recently she had been acting. And that flush......something was intriguing about her and he didn't know what. 

"You're in a bad mood," he murmured, sitting down on her bed.

"No?" said Tea sarcastically. "I just saw a good friend get killed saving my life. And then I just spill my heart out to marik and get rejected. And then Bakura comes up to me and ---------holy shit......I mean, I mean" stuttered Tea, realizing her mistake.

Kaiba looked like he had just eaten something nasty. Then he started laughing like crazy. "You like Marik?" he said incredulously. He regained his composure. "And pray tell me," he said in a straight tone, "what did Bakura do?"

"Out!" yelled Tea. Kaiba slowly stood up. He caught her by the chin and tilted her head up. "You can do much better than that, warrior princess." Her eyes were caught off guard. The anger was replaced by confusion. A faint blush rose to her cheeks. Kaiba smirked. 

Suddenly Tea grabbed him by the collar and threw him out the door. "And stay out!" she yelled at his groaning figure, slamming the door. 

***********************************

They had been at Pegasus' castle for a few days. It was like a calm before the storm. Nothing serious had happened so far. Everyone, including Mai, was training harder than ever. "Don't worry about me," Mai had said to Tea, "I think if S could fight then so can I."

'But no one's telling me anything,' she thought frustratingly. The spirits had left her in the dark. And both Gelan and Kaith were at a meeting, a meeting that had something to do with her. 

Marik was avoiding her, and Bakura.....well maybe she did feel something for him. 'After all,' she thought was a huff, 'he didn't turn me down.'

*************************************

At the meeting.

Everyone was talking at the same time. "Quiet!" roared a heavyset man. "Do we or do we not agree that the girl needs to fight S'nauh?"

They all spoke up at once. 

"Yes, but--"

"Yes, however--"

"We all agree?" the man cut in pointedly. "Then we go to plan A."

"Attack when the bastard is not ready. And if we can get to him before he assembles his army then Tea can fight him."

"Uh...it's not as simple as it seems," a woman next to him said. "And what is wrong with the plan?" the man huffed, swelling his chest. "I believe I was next in charge."

"Yeah," murmured another, "but Shalanelle knew you were a pompous ass, that's why she never let you make any decision."

Chuckles swept through the room.  
"I believe I was in charge," the man repeated, slamming his hand down. 

"My the Dragon of Light help us," another piped in. 

As the meeting adjourned, many of the spirits were shaking their heads. "I'm okay attacking, but this plan has so many gaps, and that idiot won't listen to anyone," one said emphatically. "Gah, Shalanelle was so stupid to let herself get killed. We're a mess without her."

********************************

Tea was eating dinner with her group of friends. The table was filled with all sorts of dishes that Joey and Tristan were trying out. Pegasus was eating at the far end of the table. Everyone was giving nasty looks toward him, and Kaiba was giving him death glares.

"Kaiba-boy," Pegasus said in his drawling voice, "believe me, I wouldn't want any of this riffraff eating at my table. However we were asked to meet with one of these spirits that you came with, for some information that he deems important."

"What if the Dragon guy can't bring back Cecilia," Joey spoke up. 

"Don't insult her by calling her by her name," Pegasus said, not looking up from his plate. "You are guests in my place, don't try to overstay your welcome by insulting the host."

The double doors opened and Gelan and Kaith strode in. 

"Thank you for waiting." Gelan spoke directly at Tea. "Tea, as of right now we have an ignorant fool leading us." He took a deep breath and said, "He wants us to attack S'nauh as soon as possible, trying to catch him off guard. Unfortunately, it's hard to attack S'nauh without losing a lot of your own. He thinks that if we can get to him, you will be able to fight him and thus kill him."

Everyone: o__O

"I know, I know," Gelan said, shaking his head. "There are way too many if's in this plan but....he's the next strongest after S. Although he's an arrogant fool, no one wants to challenge him if they want to keep their health."

"When will this happen?" Tea said quietly. 

Gelan and Kaith shifted nervously on their feet. "Why don't you tell her," Gelan suggested to Kaith in a nervous tone. 

"What?!...." Kaith said. "No!" Then seeing Tea's expression. "Uh....it's........ in two days," ending in a higher tone. 

"What!" everyone exclaimed. 

"Two days?" said Ryou in disbelief. "How are we gonna get everything ready in time?"

"Who said you guys were going with Tea?" said Gelan.

Tea said quietly, "They come with me or I won't go at all."

Yugi looked at her in astonishment. "Wow Tea, I thought you would argue against us going."

She smiled at her shorter friend. "I was, but then I realized that if I made you stay here, you'd probably find a way to follow us anyway." 

"However," she said icily to Gelan, "I would like a word with this.....person who ordered the attack."

"Now," she said to the unmoving Gelan and Kaith. They both looked at each other helplessly. 

Then wordlessly, Kaith opened a portal. "I'll be right back," she told her friends. And she walked in, with Kaith and Gelan behind.

She entered into a elegant room with a canopied bed set on a dias. On the bed was a man with a heavy jowl and bushy eyebrows. He was wearing a toga-looking robe with stripes that made him look like a fat elephant. A bejeweled woman was fanning him while feeding him fruit with her fingers.

"Who-What," he spluttered, seeing three figures in his room. "Didn't I ask not to be disturbed?"

Gelan spoke first. "You overstep your boundaries, Mizram," he said with a grim face. 

"No one ever said the leader couldn't be fed by a lovely lady," he countered back, smiling at the scantily-clad woman who smiled back.

"Enough of this," Tea said sharply, tearing back the canopies with a jerk. 

"T-Tea?" he said, scrambling up to a more dignified position. 

"You ordered a full out attack on S'nauh?" demanded Tea.

"Yes," he sniffed, "I am after all, the leader now."

Tea grabbed him by the front of his gaudily striped robe. "Listen to me," she snarled, putting her face two inches from his. "If anything happens to my friends because this plan of yours fails, I'll come back and beat your ass so bad that no one will recognize you anymore.....Got it?"

"I just did," she smiled sweetly. "And it wasn't a threat. It was a statement. Have sweet dreams," she said releasing him with a shove.

Behind her Kaith and Gelan were struggingly to hold in their laughs. As she turned to re-enter the portal, she said over her shoulder, "Oh and you need some breath mints or something. You stink." She spoke to the scared lady who was feeding him. "And if you're going to continue serving him, I suggest you give him a bath with a lot of soap." She entered the portal, head high. Kaith and Gelan bowed mockingly to Mizram.

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K! that's the end of this one! remember to review, my friends! Pleaseeeeee!


	16. It's Not You

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-gi-oh!

Wow, thanx for all your reviews! Thanx for all your support! Here's the next chapter, enjoy!

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It was the day before the attack. Everyone was going over their check list of things. 

"Okay," said Yugi to himself, "knife, rope, gun, armor suit, underwear---Hey! Who put this in here?!" he demanded to the others. He held up a pair of underwear that had pink umbrellas on them.

"Ooh, Yugi," cooed Joey and Tristan. "I didn't know that you liked the color pink." 

"Haha, very funny," Yugi said, throwing them at the laughing boys. As Joey did his checklist, he realized that his lucky shirt was gone. "Hey! Where'd it go? I never go anywhere without it!" he yelled as he scrummaged through his equipment. 

"Oh, sorry," said Mai, "it was so ratty and full of holes that I threw it away."

"What!" he yelled, outraged. 

"Well, it was dirty anyways," Mai said defensively, "besides, it smelled like it fell in the toilet."

The group laughed a little longer than usual as Joey turned beet red. 'They're nervous about the attack,' Tea thought. 'But so am I.' As she turned to double check her items, two slips of paper fell out. One was from Bakura, telling her to meet him in the hall. The other was from Marik, telling her to meet him in his room.

Tea sighed. It was going to come to this sooner or later. "What have you got there, Xena?" said an insulting voice. "Hello, Kaiba," Tea murmured, walking away from the room. She could feel him following her. "Do you want me to hurt you like last time?," she asked as she strode toward the hall. Kaiba smirked, "No, I had forgotten to ask you what Bakura did to you that made you blush."

"He did nothing," she said. "I was blushing because I was thinking of how many different ways I could kill you and that shocked even myself."

"Of course," Kaiba said sarcastically.

As she reached to the door that led to the hall, she turned around and faced the arrogant CEO. "Ye-e-s-s?" she said pointedly.

"Nothing," Kaiba said, quickly walking away. "That's what I thought," Tea said.

She entered the hall and saw Bakura waiting in the hall. "Hi," she said, suddenly feeling shy.

"I thought you weren't going to come," he said, his usually harsh voice soft. There was an awkward pause.

Bakura slowly looked in to Tea's gaze. "Do you--hehe.......this is hard to say......."

Tea said softly, "Bakura, I have a confession to make first." She took a deep breath, "Before......before you talked to me, that day, I had just talked to Marik......and I asked him.......if he liked me the way I liked him."

Bakura's heart shattered. He kept his mild interest on his face while inside it felt like she had just shot him. 

"And...." she continued, "he didn't really give me a definite answer. And then you came....and when you," she blushed, "ah...kissed me, I felt something. But I'm not sure if it was because I had just talked to Marik, and that.......feeling was just a leftover from being that close to Marik."

"I see," he said, his face devoid of expression. "Then I'm sorry to bother you," as he turned and walked away. 

"No, Bakura, it's just that......" Tea called after him, as she grabbed onto the cuff of his sleeve. 

Listening to the conversation was Kaiba, and the rest of the group. They had seen Kaiba putting his ear near the door and the rest joined him, to his dismay. "Augh, Tea prefers Marik over Bakura?" whispered Joey. "Yeah," agreed Tristan, "at least Bakura didn't try to take over our minds......oh wait a minute, he did try. I forgot about that."

Ryou and Malik: x__x

"Just what?," Bakura said quietly. "Do you know how.....I feel to admit to a mortal that I have feelings for them? I, I, Bakura, has just admitted to a mortal......heh, such a weak display of emotions......"

"I-I'm sorry," Tea whispered. Bakura looked at her, "You say that you did have feelings but aren't sure if they were for Marik? Then tell me if you have feelings for him still..." He slowly put his hands around her head and pulled her to him. He softly kissed her on the lips as she trembled in his arms. 

Marik had been waiting for awhile in his room. 'What should I say, what should I say,' he thought as he paced back and forth. After a few minutes had passed, he decided to seek Tea himself. 'I can do this,' he said, trying to reassure himself. 

As he turned the corner, he saw Tea kissing Bakura. He stopped, his mind reeling in disbelief. 'No, this isn't possible!' his mind screamed. He turned on his heel and walked back to his room.

Tea broke of the kiss with a shudder. "I can't," she said simply (sorry Bakura fans, I think he's cute too). "Yeah, it feels like I'm in love with you, but I just can't shake this guilty feeling, like I'm cheating on someone." 

Bakura looked in to the eyes of the girl he had been trying so hard not to like. He shrugged, and said with a crooked smile, "Then go to Marik, I won't stop you, " he left and walked to the door. 

"Quickly, back!" hissed Mai, as they heard Bakura's footsteps. As he opened the door, he saw the group with red faces and talking to each other in false, enthusiastic tones.

Tea rushed to Marik's room. 'What does he want?' she thought nervously. She knocked on his closed door. The door open to reveal Marik with a cold face.

"Ah, Tea," he said in an emotionless tone. "I was going to talk to you but then something came up. I had a change of plans."

"Is something wrong?" Tea said hesitantly. 

"Tea, when someone comes up to you and says that they love you and then later you see them kissing someone else, how would you feel?"

"Y-you saw me with Bakura," stuttered Tea, aghast. Marik smiled in assent.

"But I guess it's my fault for not admitting my feelings for you. I was....going to tell you that I saw you more than a friend......but now, I guess the tomb robber has the center of your heart."

"Marik, listen to me," Tea said intensely, "I told Bakura that although being with him might feel good, it didn't feel right. It would be like a fling," Tea said, searching for words to explain. 

Marik opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out. Then, "I'm sorry on my part if I didn't tell you how I felt when you came to me." The door closed on her face. 

'So this is how love feels when it's broken,' she thought, her mind frozen cold. 

********************************

Her friends looked worriedly at her, it was 4:30 in the morning, and they were ready to leave. Bakura and Marik were cold and distant, not speaking to anyone, both lost in their own thoughts.

"Tea, girl, don't tell me your losing sleep over those losers," Mai said. 

"How did you know?" Tea said in surprise. 

"Oh, Joey told me all about. He eavesdropped on your conversation and then told the whole group," Mai said not even looking at the fuming Joey. 

"Now-mmph" Joey said, as Ryou clamped a hand around his mouth. "We've gotta lay the blame on somebody, we drew straws, and you lost," he hissed.

"It's nothing," she said with a wan smile. "Now, girl," Mai said giving her a look, "when you come in the room with baggy red eyes, hair unkempt,....I gotta notice."

"Thanks, but no thanks. It's no biggie. Let's try to worry about today," Tea replied back, smiling gently at her blonde friend. 

Gelan, Kaith, and the other warriors came back in the room. "I want to do a quick run-over of the plan," Kaith announced. "Once we enter through the portal, we'll meet with half of the other army. The encampment is actually on an island. There is a defense shield surrounding it. Once we break the shield, which," he paused with a disgusted look. "will alert S'nauh, if he doesn't know we're attacking by then, ah, the other half will distract his side."

"Now, this is where it gets tricky. The point is to get Tea to S'nauh, however he probably has a lot of enchantments, concealed doors, traps, you know, the whole package. So that is why there will be a couple of spirits with you to break them. As you, " he said, looking at Tea, "requested, your friends will accompany you."

"Man," complained Joey, "whenever I hear that plan again, I just think, who the hell created it?"

"I think we all agree with him for once," said Kaiba, lounging indolently in a chair.

"However," Gelan cut in, "there is the problem of the destroyer spells. If he is using them, then that means he probably is using other forbidden spells."

Everyone's mood plummeted, all remembering the incident about a week ago.

"That is why," he hesitated, "this will probably a no barrier attack. We released the seals on all forbidden spells and everyone with magic will be able to use them."

Tea blinked, "Kill the enemy by their own tactics?" she said, raising an eyebrow. "But that also means a lot of innocents will be killed."

Frowning, Yami cut in, "But I thought you said all inhabitants on the island were spirits."

"Yes, but this is an all out war, other _skirmishes_ will go on, throughout the world. Basically wherever there is an enemy camp, our people are there."

"You have that many spirits?" Yugi said, his eyes widening. 

"We have a little less than the humans, but remember, we prefer not to live with the mortals," Gelan said loftily.

"Yeah, yeah, we heard this schpeel before," muttered Malik. 

"But the main encampment is on this island," continued Gelan. "S'nauh is there."

**********************************

"So the naive fools are about to attack?" S'nauh said to his henchman. 

"Yes sir. In about a few minutes."

'Ah,' S'nauh thought, 'how enjoyable it will be when I see the surprise on their faces. Ha! Try to catch me off guard, now that is pathetic. But expected if they're led by that pig Mizram.'

"Ferran," he commanded to the biker leader who had originally fought Tea at the school, "put an illusion defense spell in place of the real shield. Let them think that there really is a defense spell and when they combine they're energy to break it, we'll attack."

As Ferran left, S'nauh left his room and went to the balcony. "And while we take them capture, my other forces will attack **their** main site. My troops around the world have left their bases, leaving illusion spells. Those fools will think that my people are there when they're really back at the main site to take over their main base. They attack, and they get trapped in the ensnarement spells." He sighed heavily. "Oh how I love strategies. The crowning point will be when I take that girl Tea and her friends captive. Maybe I should put the mind breaker spell on her friends in front of her eyes," he said brightening. 

**********************************

"Ready?" Gelan said to the somber group. "Okay," and a portal appeared. "Remember, be very quiet."

'Here goes everything,' Tea thought. 'One wrong step, or one tiny mistake, and we're all dead.'

As she entered the portal, she said softly as if in prayer, "Shalanelle, today your dream of defeating him will come true."

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Okie dokie, this is the end of dis. By tomorrow, hopefully, I'll put up the next chapter. Please Review and I hope the romance wasn't mushy. And now for the bad news. On August 1, I'm leaving to another tournament in San Jose, CA. I'll be coming back around maybe around the 9th or 10th. Depends how I do. But the 9/10th is probably the latest. Before that, everything is up in the air. But still review because I'll go on the library computer to check, okay? Oh yeah, and I'll still put another chapter before I leave. :) Just a treat because I've been leaving so much...hehe.


	17. For Love and Sacrifice

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-gi-oh!

thanx for your reviews, I started this before the other reviews came so I might not've read them yet. This was a ballad by Fox Spirit, and I loved it.

The light has broken through the depths between dawn and dusk. 

Or go to battle which they know none may return, even so, they are determine, for those who gave their lives for them. 

The girl chosen by S stands; in fear, in anger, in vengeance, even more, confusion that is in her heart and sadness. 

Even now as she runs through the screams, cries, and blood she must remain a calm facade. 

She knows that this is her obligation to that which taught and she will be determine to accomplish it. 

As she runs through the dark doorways she can only think.

I'm coming for you S'naugh, I'm coming for you. 

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Anywayz, I just thought it was so good, that I had to put it in. ^^

Okay, I know I haven't been reviewing some of your guys' stories. It was because my stupid sisters caught me typing my story at 2am. And I said I was going to sleep at 9:30....crazy isn't it? I **never** sleep at that time, my usual sleep time is 12:30. So now, everyone keeps a close eye on me. About every day I hear them saying, 'why're you typing your stupid story?' about 30 times a day, and they kick me off the internet after 30 minutes. So basically I have this time limit and I don't have enough time to review..sniff.

So.....when I come back I'm going to go back to my reviews and R&R every Yu-gi-oh stories that you guys have, oh and also if you have DBZ or Dragon Ball. I know there were two people who wanted me to read their fic, but I forgot who. One of them I did review, the other...can you tell me again? Sorry. But if you want me to R&R your other fics, even though I probably don't know much about them I will, just tell me. I'm soooo sorry if it seems like I never review your guys' story! 

Wow! Practically a whole page of author's notes. Guess I should get the chapter started...hehe.

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"This stick is shoving up my ass," muttered Tristan, trying to shift position. They were hiding beneath the bushes and trees. They could see the watchmen from here. Gelan and Kaith had gone with the other spirits to take down the shield. 

Suddenly a loud **_Boom!_** was heard. "What was that!" hissed Mai. Tea cocked her ears, and listened intently. She could hear screams and shouts, "I don't know if those screams are from our people or theirs," she whispered back. 

A crackle of branches was heard behind them. Then, "Are you Tea Mazaki?"

The group slowly turned around. Behind them were twenty-five spirits, all on S'naugh's side, each holding a destroyer spell at the ready. "If you cooperate, we will not release these spells," one said.

"Well, this plan really worked," Kaiba said sarcastically. "We didn't even get in the castle grounds yet and we're already captured." 

"Better do what he says," Tea said through the side of her mouth. "I'll try to think of an escape plan." 'Great,' she thought, 'this can not get any worse. But what can I do? We'll get killed by those spells if we try to escape.'

Inside the grounds, Ferran met them. "Hello again, Tea," he said, smiling coldly. "We meet again."

"Yes," she replied, "and hopefully you won't run away like the coward you are and face death."

He smiled faintly. "I heard that Shalanelle was killed. I convey my deepest sympathies," he said mockingly.

"As we all do," murmured another spirit beside him. "She was always annoying bitch, and it took a little too long to kill her."

The man laughed, seeing the group's fury at their words. "But," he said, clapping his hands together, "let's have some fun shall we?" 

"Bring in the others," he ordered to another.

The doors opened and Gelan, Kaith, and the resty of the army were brought in. "I know what you're thinking, that this army has just been cut by half, but don't worry, the rest are being executed right now."

"It's funny that all you have to say, is that we have Tea captured, and they'll listen to you like well trained dogs," he continued. "Don't you feel special, Tea? All these people surrendered just for you." 

"And half of them are now dying for you," he added.

Tea's face was locked into a blank mask. Every nerve in her was screaming for his death, but she suppressed it down, forcing herself to keep calm, or else they would be even more amused. 

"Oh, I feel your pain," he said smiling at Tea. "But how about this, you can take it all out on me, c'mon," he said motioning at her with a hand. "Let's see how much you've improved since our last fight."

With a clap of his hand, the floor pulled back to reveal a fighting ring that levitated upwards. He started to rise and he floated over to land inside the ring. Tea started to rise as well, and she fought her urge to scream. 

"Um, I don't think S'nauh would like you fighting me," Tea said, looking down from the ring at her friends. 

"Oh I forgot about that," he said annoyed. "As of right now he is actually at your main site, taking over your base. Ironic isn't it? You try to take over ours while we try to take over yours."

"He won't mind," he said, dismissing his previous words with a wave of his hand.

He grinned evilly. "I'm going to make you pay for what you did to me, and I'm going to do it in front of your friends."

A glowing yellow light appeared in front of him. "But don't worry, I won't break you that badly, S'nauh will do the rest," he added. 

The yellow light surrounded Tea and she couldn't move. 'Damn! My feet and arms feel like lead!' she thought as she struggled to pull her leg up.

"That'll hold you from doing anything," he said smirking. With that, he crossed over and slapped Tea twice in the face. "What can't do anything?" he taunted as Tea looked murder at him. 

"Does it make you feel better to pick on someone who can't move? Oh I forgot, you're the kinda person that picks on those who can't defend themselves just so you can feel trumped up and important," she retorted back.

In response, he punched her on the stomach, and then threw her bent over form across the ring, into the wall. "Aah," Tea groaned in pain. Blood was trickling down her face, her stomach was on fire, and her vision was blurred. 'I'm going to be killed, unless I can get out of this stupid paralyze spell. Wait, how can I be so stupid! I have magic rings and such, a gift from S!'

'What was the activation word....oh yeah! Parnosis!' she thought mentally. Suddenly a white glow appeared and thinned out in front of Tea to be a shield. 'And Selien, to disperse any magic on me!'

Once she felt movement back in her arms and legs, she stood up. "You can't do your cheap tricks on someone without them striking back," she said striding toward him.

He looked in surprise at the floating shield in front of her. "So, you have magic trinkets." 

"Lets see how good they are." With that, he started to throw fireballs at her shield, which merely absorbed each blow. 

'This is my chance!' thought Tea. 'Lets see if he can handle the same trick I used on Raleth!' She threw two of her triangular blades at him, but as they started to curve toward him, he merely let them bounce off of him. "It won't work," he said smirking, "I'm not Raleth, you'll have to do much better than that."

He floated up even higher and a black ball of energy started to develop between his hands. Yellow lightening crackled around him and stench of rotten meat swept the air. "This," he said, "is another of those forbidden spells." 

Black ball grew larger and then shifted shape to form a hideous monster. It had three heads of a wolf, with sharp teeth, it's body however was a grotesque lump of...... what looked like tar. "Try to defeat this!" he said triumphantly. 

Immediately Tea used her weapons, attacking the thing. But nothing worked, it was like he was rubber and everything she did had no effect on it. 'I'll have to use magic,' she thought desperately. 

She touched the metal necklace around her neck. White and black streams of light exited the necklace and shot at the forbidden monster. But nothing happened. It only succeeded in aggravating it even more. 

Below, Tea's friends had tried to do something to help Tea. But the spirits that were watching them had merely placed an Unbreakable spell on them. Now they were stuck in their positions, rooted to the spot. 

But Gelan and Kaith on the other hand were gathering everyone's energy for a spell. "Please, let this work," Gelan thought. 

As the monster leapt at Tea, another monster appeared in the shape of a dragon, in front of Tea. "Kill him!" shouted Kaith, pointing at Ferran. 'Lets hope that it'll kill Ferran before the other monster kills Tea,' he thought. 'If it kills him in time, the forbidden spell will evaporate.'

Right before the dragon attacked Ferran, and right before the monster was in mid-leap at Tea, time slowed down. It was hard to move, it was even an effort to talk. 

"What is going on?" said a cool voice.

Immediately both monsters vanished. Ferran paled, "S'nauh," he said bowing on one knee. 

"Just what do you think you're doing?" he said looking at Ferran. 

Ferran fidgeted, looking at his feet. "I was just toying with her."

"And about to kill her, I believe," S'nauh replied back. "I don't have time to deal with this. For right now," he said, turning to Tea. "We have an appointment." A magical net surrounded Tea and a paralysis on her friends. "You won't be able to break that," he said.

The scenery around them shifted into the room that Shalanelle had first introduced Tea to the spirits. 

On the dais that S usually sat, was a trembling Mizram. Around him were spirits holding destroyer spells at their fingertips. "Tea, what are you doing! Kill him!" he squeaked, eyes shifting nervously to the smirking spirits around him. 

"A demonstration to show you what will happen if you don't come to my side," he said to Tea. 

A black ball of energy appeared but before he could use the mind breaker spell on Mizram, Tea said in a frigid voice, "Stop." 

He turned to her in surprise. "You've changed your mind that soon?"

"I know what that spell does, but no matter what you do, I **will not**!," she said in a deadly tone. 

Her friends looked at each other. They had never seen Tea like this before. Sure she was really scary, especially when fighting, but the determined look in her face, the cold glint in her eye, the set lips, tense body.....it was as if this was a new Tea. The fighter Tea, complementing the other Tea they knew, like Yin and Yang.

S'nauh looked at Tea with a different look. "So," he said softly, "you know what it does, then you should know that I'll put on your friends, one by one. And one they fall under the spell, I'll order them to kill you. And watch as you kill your friends one by one.....or you could just assent to me."

"How about we just settle by a man to man fight?" Tea countered back. 'As long as I can get him into a fight, he'll forget about my friends.'

"And if the prophecy is true, you'll beat me? I think not." The black energy drifted from his hands and hovered over the heads of her friends. "Which shall I choose.....?" he said with a little smile, eyes never leaving Tea's face.

'No, don't,' Tea thought, her mind in a torment, 'but I'd rather die than serve him.' She closed her eyes and mentally asked for forgiveness from her friends for the next decision she was going to make. 

"Do it on me," she said, her voice pure and loud. 

"Tea, no," they hissed. Tea looked at each of her friends in the face, her eyes lingering on Bakura and Marik. "It's the only way," she said, with finality.

"Now you're thinking smart," S'nauh said approvingly. "I might let your friends live for that."

The energy floated over Tea. She could feel the air practically hum with it's energy, goose bumps rising on her skin. The black orb gently touched her on the head.

She could feel something foreign rise up in her mind. Something evil. It crept up, sneaking its tendrils, trying to seduce her mind to give over, and succumb to it. "It would be so easy," Tea thought, 'to give in............but I....will......never!' 

S'nauh raised an eyebrow. "Don't fight it....or else you know what will happen." Suddenly it felt like she was being burned alive. "Give in, give in," droned a voice in her head. 

"Aah!" Tea screamed as she fell to her knees, gripping her head with her hands. Flashes of color seared into her mind. Indigo, flash. GIVE, flash. White. IN. Flash. In the distant Tea heard screaming, screams that were echoed by her. 

Marik trembled visibly as he saw Tea writhe on the floor. Each scream tore through him like a knife. With almost inhuman strength, disregarding the spell on him, he threw himself at S'nauh, death written on his face. 

S'nauh calmly watched Marik leap toward him. A red bolt shot from his hand and sank into Marik's chest. 

Tea felt like she was watching from a spectator's point of view. 'I'm not the one on the ground....Marik did not just die...Marik.....did....not....just.....die!

"No!" she shrieked, her voice already hoarse, in response to Marik. 

Marik looked almost astonished at the gaping hole in his chest. Blood leaking from his mouth, he said in a bare whisper, "For me Tea. Do it for me." And then he fell, falling almost lightly on the ground.

Tea lifted her head up, facing the smirking S'naugh, her eyes burning with unholy light. She felt weightless and light. Instead of fighting the pain, she welcomed it with open arms. She braced her feet wide, arms stretched to the sides. With each searing flash, her body jolted in response. But not a scream escaped her clamped lips.

She looked like she was in a trance, the only sound heard was her hoarse breathing. Tears trickled unnoticed down her face. 

GIVE, Violet, Flash, IN, Flash. Numbly, she thought, 'I'll take in everything, everything.'

As she absorbed the mental blows, her fingers slowly reached into her belt, to the magical rings that were given to her by S. She slipped them on. 'For S....for Marik....for them both,' she thought dazedly.

Blood still running down her face, she shifted her legs into a crouch. 

"You can't be serious," said S'nauh, for once fear was in his face. "You shouldn't even be able to move!"

With a banshee shriek, Tea leapt on him, bejeweled fists pummeling him. S'nauh tried to hold her off, but Tea was beyond reasoning. Frantically he tried to put a defense shield, and then a paralysis on her, but the rings cut each spell down. Blood started to run down his face. "You leave me no choice!" he snarled. He raised the spell to it's maximum.

Tea stiffened over him, her mouth in a silent scream. As she felt her mind about to snap, a jumble of memories floated across her mind.

Shalanelle throwing herself before her......flames, screams, blood dripping on her head. The expression of Raleth's face when he died....the elation and then disgust at herself afterwards. Ferran's panic at school, when she was about to finish him. Marik rejecting her. The kiss. Bakura. Marik's blood trickling down his chest........

S'nauh watched her, triumph in his eyes. But wait....what was this? Tea slowly looked at him, her mouth open, her eyes wide and dilated. Suddenly her pupils sharpened. It was as if she was peering into his soul, condemning him for everything he had done. 

He watched her eyes flicker, as if deciding what to do with him. "No!" he screamed throwing every spell he could think at her. But she merely batted each aside with a flick of her wrist, every magical trinket glowing on her. "Die!" he shrieked insanely, knowing that she was the one. The one that had haunted his dreams every night. The fear of dying. Of death.

Tea looked at him, looked at him through a film of red before her eyes. She was calm, her mind thinking on which punch to throw, which kick, to give him more pain. She was never in more control of her body. Mind and body fusing into one spiritual being. 

She relentlessly continued her attack, throwing aside the feeble blocks. She could not stop.....She would not stop....not until this business was finished....not until then.

Still under the paralysis, Tea's friends watched, fear in their eyes. Mai, held her hand over mouth, tears streaming down her face. Joey and Tristan, watched the fight as if their life depended on it. Yugi and Yami looked on, shock evident in their eyes. Ryou gripping Malik's shoulder hard, Malik had just gotten over the shock of Marik's death, his hand over his eyes. Bakura was fighting with all his might to tear the spell off of him. 'I've gotta help her!' he thought, but he could not break free.

His defense started to wear down. Tea's vision swam in the red. Blood rage tore through her; even though her mind was cold and calculating, this wonderful feeling of pounding this person...this....murderer into the ground was addicting. 

Ferran and the others watched, panic emanating from them. 'This is not possible, it can't be....she can't be the one....' they all thought. 

Fumbling inside her pouch, Tea withdrew a stone that pulsed with inner white light. "If your mind or will is strong enough, this stone has enough energy that you can direct it to your attacker," S had told her.

She squeezed the stone with all her might. Willing it toward S'nauh. Immense power rushed through her, unseen with the naked eye, thrusting itself at S'nauh. He was thrown back across the room and hit the wall by the back of his head. Tea watched fiercely at the shock on his face. He slid downward the wall, his head leaving a bloody trail. 

"No," he whispered. His eyes closed, as death claimed him. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Whoooooeeeeee! That is the longest I've ever written for a chapter! So that means for all my hard work, you guyz must review!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ^^ I found I'm actually leaving tomorrow night, so I'll put in the ch. for my other story tomorrow. REVIIIEW!!!!!!!!


	18. We're Back!

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-gi-oh!

Thank you for all your reviews! Sorry to update so late. Anywayz I had started this chapter but then I didn't know where I put my file, so I had to start it over. Without further ado, here's the next chapter.

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"Tea?" said Mai in a wavery voice. Tea was looking at Marik. She knelt down, and checked his pulse although she already knew he was dead. 

As Yugi and the others started to move toward Tea, Bakura stopped them. "Give her privacy," he said looking away, his eyes shining suspiciously in what looked like tears.

Her eyes trailed down the boy's face, skimming over his wound. His usually bitter or cold face quiet. He looked content, as if he had done his last duty to the world. She gently caressed his face. Then her face blanked, when she raised her eyes, it showed no mercy. 

Around them was the other spirits, still unmoving. Raleth was still in shock over S'nauh's death. When he looked back at Tea, he saw she was watching him. She rose up slowly from the boy's side. 

"You tried to kill my friends and myself," she said softly. 

"Tea, don't," said Ryou nervously. "No more, I can't stand this-this killing anymore." 

"But I have to," she said, gazing at Ryou with a sad smile, "I have to...."

Raleth backed away from the advancing Tea. He looked desperately side to side for help. All the other spirits were shying away from him. "What are you doing?!," he shouted. "If we join together we can kill her!"

"That won't happen," said a new voice. Gelan, Kaith, and the remaining spirits appeared. "We should have done this earlier," Kaith said with set lips. "But we let our pride get in the way, and that got most of us killed. Although we could take the rest of you on, at what cost?"

"What are you talking about," commanded one female spirit who watching over Mizram. 

In reply a great booming sound was heard. The ground began to shake as the structure around them started to crack. Then, silence.

In the middle of the room, tiny glittery sparkles were forming into an outline of a enormous Dragon. As the figure became more and more solid, flames licked around it. "The Dragon of Light," breathed Kaith.

"Who summons me?" it rumbled. 

"We do," said Gelan. 

"Ah, yes, you. And I see S is not with you, and S'nauh.....is dead." The voice was filled with amusement. "Now this is interesting, both sides without leaders. I see why you called me, what point is there in fighting when there is nothing to drive you on."

"I don't see anything funny," Tea said flatly. She was not impressed with this thing. This supposedly was the person that had enough power to squish someone like S or S'nauh flat. 

"I apologize, there is nothing funny in the death of your friends, as you know oh so well," the Dragon said to Tea. 

"But back to this situation, you called on me to judge again." The spirits on both sides were watching the Dragon warily. 

"How do I say this," it mused. "I was created actually by spirits. Long ago, way before Earth was even created, four of the strongest spirits on another world got together and decided to create a being that others could call for judgment. They were all very old and used their life force to create me. However the spell to call me up was lost and forgotten. And then you spirits found the spell, here on earth. And then you called upon me, for the first time, when there was a terrible war against both of you.

It looked at the spirits hard. "I knew that S'nauh would die for the things he had done. But now that he is dead, what to do? Both sides has lost many, whether good or bad," it continued, ignoring the protest from the spirits.

"I am weary of living, and so after this I will fade away. But before I do that, I must pass this final judgment." Everyone waited with anticipated breathe.

"I will use my power to revive those who have died in this fight........except those who were completely debased, like S'nauh. On both sides," it emphasized. "After that I will fade away, it will be up to you to keep the peace, work it out with treaties and talks, but I forbid anymore fighting. Any more fighting will end with execution."

Everyone had incredulous looks on their faces. Yeah, after thousands of years of fighting, it asked them to stop all of a sudden?

The Dragon smiled, showing it's fierce teeth. "To make sure my sentence will be fulfilled, when I fade away, I will leave magic behind that will automatically attack anyone who starts to fight with evil intent."

A red hazy mist started emanate from him. Then bright flashes of light appeared, blinding Tea. When the light cleared, there was Shalanelle, and many others standing.

"With the help of these people, you must prepare for a new beginning, without animosity," the Dragon said.

Something joyful rose up in Tea, S was back! But wait, what about Marik? She looked quickly down, he wasn't moving. Then a moan was heard from his lips. 

"Oh, what the f@#%, it hurts, man," he muttered. The wound on his chest was healed, leaving a white scar. 

Tea grabbed Marik and immediately smacked him twice in the face. "Oh you stupid!" she cried while tears streamed down, "how dare you die on me! How dare you!"

A throat cleared behind her. "Aren't you going to greet me?" S said pointedly. "After all I, also, died for you." Tea laughed, her voice catching a sob. She ran to S and hugged her as hard as she could.

"Gahh, girl, I can't bweathe!" S said as she futilely banged her hand down on Tea's arm, trying to release her grip. "You're not supposed to kwill me, I just died!"

Briefly the Dragon explained to the now resurrected spirits what he had just said. "And I leave it up to you to kill any of those like S'nauh," he said giving a pointed look at Raleth. 

"Now wait up!" Raleth said laughing, "I'm on your side!" he said to the spirits who were now closing in on him. "Sorry," one said, "but I never really liked hanging around demented psychos like S'nauh. I prefer to stay alive."

Shalanelle turned away from the struggling Raleth, laughing. "I've missed you guys," she said simply. "But I think I need to deal with a few things first," she said looking at the miserable Mizram, huddled on the dais. A portal appeared, "This will bring you back to Kaiba's house, I'll be there shortly."

"Oh and Kaiba, your house is kind of.....messed up...some things were blown up, you know how wars go," she said smiling apologetically.

*********************

They re-entered into Kaiba's lush mansion. Suddenly it appeared like everybody had something to do, leaving Marik and Tea alone.

"I have **got** to do something about my hair," said Mai, sniffing.

"Yeah, I, uh, I'm going to help her," said Joey.

Soon the hallway was deserted. 

"I'm not really a romantic type," started Marik, "but I believe I owe you an apology."

Tea laughed, "Not here, they're listening."

A chorus of "Aw man," was heard from around the corner of the hall. Marik followed Tea into her room. She then gave Marik her full attention. 

He started to fidget, uncomfortable with her steady gaze upon him. "So, ah," he continued. "I was wondering if you still, ah, had, um, feelings for an arrogant, no-good, ah, I mean," he said hastily when he saw her expression. "That white haired tomb robber." 

"And if I did?" said Tea, amused. 

A flash of rage went through him. 'Why I'd hunt him down and-' he stopped, realizing that she had read his mind. 

"Marik....oh I totally forgot!" She reached up and slapped him. "That was for dying on me." 

"But you already hit me for that!" yelled Marik, rubbing his face. "Well you needed another one for giving me such a scare," she replied.

He smirked. "So you do care about me," he said. 

"I never said I didn't." 

Outside the gang waited for the move. "C'mon," said Tristan, "kiss her!"

"Shut up!" hissed Kaiba, "they'll hear us!"

Marik took a deep breath. "Tea," he said, looking like a man about to die a dreadful death, "you are the only person in my life that I actually care about."

"Oh that's so sweet!" said Mai, sighing, while Joey gave an exasperated snort. 

"And you, you sexy boy, are the only person that I ever want!" exclaimed Tea. The gang heard a loud thud, as if someone had tackled someone. Then they heard Tea say, "Now take off your shirt you!" 

The gang: O__O

"I think we should go," whispered Ryou, blushing. 

Inside the room Tea smiled as she heard the gang leave. She laughed at the blushing Marik. "Oh stop that," she said chidingly, "I said that so they would leave!"

"Um, yeah, I knew that," he said clearing his throat. 

"But..." said Tea with a sly smile, "I do think that your sexy, especially those of yours.....and underneath all that roughness, you're really a sensitive person."

'A sensitive person?!' Marik thought. 'If she says anything more, I'll die of embarrassment!' 

"Ah, Tea" he said, trying to halt her words.

"And your figure," she raked him with her eyes, "isn't that bad at all. Hmm...and your--"

Marik shut her with a fierce kiss. Trembling, Tea molded her body to his, feeling like the luckiest girl alive.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And that is the final chapter..........just kidding! There will be an epilogue, I'm not sure if I'll make a sequel, I'll have to think about that. I mean, I wouldn't know what make the sequel about. Maybe I'll do a prologue, like S's story.......anywayz hope you liked this chapter and that it wasn't too mushy....plz review!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! oh yeah, my computer wouldn't let me review your guyz's stories so I'll do them later. Stupid computer, keeps on freezing...


	19. Epilogue

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-gi-oh!

Okay, here's the epilogue! Sniff, my first story.....coming to an end! **_Thank you all_** for reviewing, signed or anonymous! You guys have been my incentive and motivation and without you guys I couldn't have done it. (Special thanks to _Princess of Darkness and me _for being my first reviewer.) All these reviews made me feel special and made my day. You guys encouraged me and helped me when I had trouble writing, muah, muah, muah!!! I'd give you guys all a blue ribbon! And you all write to damn good! I'm jealous.... okay, okay, here is....sniff.....the final......ending................its short...sorry

~!@#@#$%#$%^$^%&%^&**()~!#@~!~@!$@~#%$#@$^%$#%&^%$*(&

Sunset.

Tea walked down the beach with Marik, hand in hand. As she looked at the gentle waves, she couldn't believe that she had ended up with Marik. 'Ah well, if we ever have children,' thought Tea, 'it would be one heck of an explanation to our kids how we fell for each other.'

Marik smiled down at Tea. He had gone through an enormous change. He was even now the arrogant, son-of-a-bitch, but a little more toned down. He and Bakura still didn't get along, and Tea was a little uncomfortable being with Bakura after turning him down.

"What are you thinking?" he asked Tea, she was watching the sunlight hit the sea, creating a myriad of light. 

"Just S's explanation on why Jalena wasn't revived," Tea said. S had updated her on how the treaties were going on and had Kaiba and Yami helping her (lucky girl!). She had told Tea that Jalena had made her choice to betray Takeena and everyone else, thus sealing her fate. But S had assured her that Jalena was doing fine in the underworld.

Cecilia, well, Cecilia was revived, because Gelan had made a promise to Pegasus. But she could only come back and stay every half a year before departing back to the underworld because she did not fight in this war. 

Tea laughed, that one day war was frequently called the mistake-of-Mizram-that-jackass and most people usually added a swear or an oath after it. 

"Do you think this peace will last?" she asked Marik as he held her in his arms. 

"I don't care," Marik said, "as long as your not in it." 

As the couple kept on talking, up above, swirls of heady blue, purple, and pink sky mixed together. It truly was a beautiful sunset.

And if you squinted just a little to where the last trail of light hit the gentle sea, you would see a pair of doves taking flight into the night.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Music: The Matrix theme song

(Credits rolling down)

Producer: Belle-fille

Actors: 

Marik as Marik

Tea as Tea

...........

~!@@#$$%^%^&*^(*&^)(*_++()*+*+^&&&&%$&$*&)(*_#@$#!!~&^$#

After the show

Kaiba: Finally! (snatches Tea away from Marik) You can get your hands off my girl now.

Marik: Oh yeah? Wanna fight?

Ryou: Now, calm down. Neither of you are going to get her, because I'm the only

one for her!

Bakura: You stupid mortal! I'm telling you she's mine! How dare you try to copy

me!

Yami: I'm pharaoh here! And I say she belongs to me!

( Scuffle with the boys. Yugi tries to help Yami, the problem is that he's a little shorter than the other guys.....he just got squashed, Ryou is sitting on him. Malik tries to help Yugi, he gets punched in the nose by Kaiba who is trying to hit Yami. Yami is using Bakura as a shield.)

Me, Mai, and Serenity (who hasn't played a role at all in this film, and thus she is

not happy with me): O__O

Malik: Um......Marik, can't you just control her with your Millennium Rod? (holding his bloody nose)

Tea: x__x (smacks Malik in the head) No one is getting me! (starts to walk away)

All the boys: She's getting away! (immediately stops scuffle and chases after Tea)

Tea is now running away, screaming bloody murder. 

Me: (running after the boys) Hey boys! What about meeeee?! 

Boys: (takes one look at me and runs even harder after Tea)

Me: ( - ___ - ) 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ah yes, it is indeed over. And now for the personal thank you's to all those who reviewed. 

Thank you to (in no order) : 

(drum roll)

Princess of Darkness and Me

**Kaz**

**Lynderia**

**Seguha**

**Veronica-Scheerone**

**cam2**

Tasha 3

Magicman/Smokegirl

**Lady Dragon 636**

**anime 284**

BlackBelt

rogue solus

Amber Hicks

**Aikenka**

**Bunnygurl**

**teafan 123**

**yugiohluver**

Kari

Yami-Isis

Animechick8

LiL Princess

Dragontamer101

Fox-Spirit AKA Y.V. (nice ballad by the way)

**Candace**

**jfksl**

**Anichan**

Joker Girl

**SilverStarz424**

Sailoranime

**Sassygirl191189**

**Ladidee**

**Raine**

**Amy**

**sb1**

**xin**

DarkSetoKaiba (sorry about not putting her with Kaiba)

SpAiN

Yugi-is-little-bro

Gryphaena

Yugi's Little Sister

**Nana No Yami**

Oh yeah, I should put down **Darkness Falls1 **as well because although she didn't review, I know she read my story. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And if I forgot your name in this list, please tell me! I will smack my head personally for you. ^__^ 

I started another kickass tea fanfic but it only has one chapter. Thank you all again! 




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